


The Future in the Past

by Mixk



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Male Slash, Multiverse, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2018-04-01 21:21:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4035013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mixk/pseuds/Mixk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the future, Charles Xavier’s power and influence have grown enough for him to be viewed as a threat to non-mutants, in spite of his pacifist ways. Unfortunately for them, Charles is untouchable—if his impressive powers weren’t enough, he’s got a loyal army and family that would die to defend him.</p><p>One of his fiercest opponents, William Stryker, chooses to attack him in the past when he’s at his most vulnerable, after the events of Cuba. Charles’s son, Joel, goes back in time to prevent the assassination.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Back in Time

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [XavierineFest2015](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/XavierineFest2015) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
> 
> Charles Xavier's son/daughter travels back in time to prevent their father's assassination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, here goes. I'm opting to post chapters one after the other, because I'm at a serious writer's block and need a good kick in the derrière to sit down and write more. I hope you enjoy this first chapter, let me know what you think !

Joel falls to his hands and knees when the world around him finally stops fidgeting and moving. He empties the contents of his stomach on the floor, the acrid taste lingering in his mouth afterwards as he lies on his side, head dizzy from what he’s just experienced. He vaguely recognizes the familiar surroundings that remind him of home, and the relief is enough to appease him. He never thought time travel would be such a bitch. His father would be scolding him right this instant for using such a foul language, even in thoughts. It’s the last thing on his mind before he passes out.

He’s awoken by someone slapping his face, a jolt of panic seizing him as he opens his eyes to a severe face hovering above him, strands of brown hair falling in front of blue eyes Joel recognizes all too well. He relaxes at the sight of his father, and the first thing he does is reach out with his mind to find out who is here with them. No one but Hank and his father here. Joel then realizes his hands and feet are bound to the cold surface he’s lying on.

“Who the fuck are you?”

While Joel didn’t give much thought to it—since there wasn’t a lot of time to prepare at all—he never thought he would meet a younger version of his father in those circumstances. The harsh words, the bad breath and the unkempt look on this Charles Xavier are such a shock that it leaves Joel speechless. His father looks exactly the same as he saw him last, except for the longer hair, the beard, and the overwhelming smell of alcohol around him. Since this Charles Xavier is nothing like the father Joel has grown up with and loves, and for his own sanity, he decides to just refer to him as Charles. Joel takes a look into Charles’s mind, which, at the moment, is a chaotic minefield of regret, pain, and bitterness that is even more confusing. It makes him wonder for a moment where the fuck he’s landed, and if he’s even in the right place, at the right moment, and not in some twisted alternate universe. What he finds in this man’s mind leaves no doubt that he is indeed facing Charles Xavier, however, even if he can’t sense the latter’s mind actively connecting with his. Come to think of it, Joel finds it weird that he’s managed to penetrate the mind of the world’s most powerful telepath so easily. His father taught him very early how to control his telepathy, how to respect others’ privacy, and Joel’s never found a reason to go rummaging through his father’s mind before.

“Brilliant, our visitor is either mute or mentally disabled, Hank.”

“Charles, you’re due for another dose.”

Joel doesn’t pay them much attention as he looks down at his restraints, and undoes them easily with his mind, sitting up to work out the kinks in his back. He barely has time to stand before a furred blue hand shoves him back down, the impact hurting his back even more,  as well as his head.

“Son of a—”

“How did you do that?” Hank asks him, angry eyes peering into his, and fuck, Joel now knows what it feels like to be on the receiving end of Beast’s wrath. He makes a mental note to avoid that in the future. “Who are you?”

“Damn it, easy there! My mistake, I shouldn’t have,” Joel admits, raising his hands in surrender. He’s tempted to push Hank away from him. He blames his dad for his short temper and tendency to resort to violence, but he represses his instincts and adds, “If you’ll just let me sit down, I’ll explain everything.”

Hank releases his hold, hovering over him with a cautious stance as he sits up again. Joel looks around, recognizing one of Hank’s underground lab, with dated equipment that he guesses are the first generation of computers. Under Charles’s and Hank’s scrutinizing glares, Joel tries to figure out the best way to broach the subject, but fails horribly.

“How long was I out?” he asks first, because Stryker’s assassin is supposed to arrive a day after him. In retrospect, he should have given himself a bigger head start when he used the time portal after the assassin, but in his haste, he didn’t give it too much thought. It’s too bad Billy didn’t want to risk bringing another interdimensional parasite by making the assassin disappear from the universe altogether. It would have saved him the trouble of time traveling altogether. Although he has to admit having Billy teleport him to the time portal inside Stryker’s facilities was probably the next best solution. He really hopes Billy will be able to bring him back, too.

“No more than ten hours,” Hank answers. Joel has just lost a good chunk of the head start he’d given himself when traveling back.

“Fuck it, there’s no right way to put this,” he says, looking his father in the eye. “My name is Joel, I’m one of your students, and I came from the future after an assassin sent from my time to kill you.”

Charles bursts out laughing, and, granted, Joel probably would have reacted the same way if their places were reversed. Except he would have extracted the truth from the other’s mind right away. It’s weird that his father hasn’t tried yet.

“Why aren’t you reading my mind right now to find out if I’m telling the truth?” Joel asks, because his curiosity always gets the best of him. Not that he would let his father enter his mind anyway, but he hasn’t needed to put up any mental barrier whatsoever so far. Most peculiar. He doesn’t get any response from either of them, and senses their wariness, so Joel gets his answer the best way he knows. He extracts it from Hank’s mind, and what he finds out takes him aback.

“You can’t, can you?” He says, looking at Charles. Upon further prodding, Joel finds out his father’s paralyzed from the waist down, and images of the incident responsible for it flash in his mind, the excruciating pain from the bullet wound making him gasp.

“You’re a telepath?” Charles asks him, wide-eyed. Retrieving a painful memory in such an intrusive manner seldom goes unnoticed, unfortunately, and Joel hasn’t mastered the art as well as his father.

“Yes,” Joel says, recovering from the shock the sharp memory caused him. He realizes too late he’s just admitted to being a telepath himself, something he’s not sure he wanted them to know. Oh well, they would have found out eventually.

“Hank, I’m going to have to ask you to ask him to leave, if you please,” Charles says, barely giving Joel a glance before turning on his heels to leave the room on shaky legs.  

“Hold on, I’m not fucking around here,” Joel calls after his father, and before he can even go after him, Joel’s lifted up from the floor, Hank having grasped the back of his shirt to hold him up like some animal.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Joel says, and pushes Hank away from him with a quick swipe of his arm, perhaps with a bit more force than necessary, as he sees Hank crashing against a machine when he falls back on his feet. Hank recovers quickly, however, and comes charging back at him. Joel stops Hank easily, throwing the latter to the side and against a wall.

“Sorry, Hank!” Joel says, thinking now he could have just frozen Hank instead of using his telekinesis. He’s just more at ease using this more physical fighting style, mostly due to the hours of training his dad has put him through. There’s not much fighting when you can just freeze your opponent, and Joel has to admit he does love a good fight. He’s never been as talented as his father anyway when it comes to telepathy, and he certainly does not have the same level of patience. Joel raises his hand towards Hank to keep him pinned to the wall, and turns to Charles.

“Listen,” he says, grabbing Charles’s shoulders. “I didn’t come here to watch you throw your life away while I do all the work, but if that’s what it takes to save your ass, I’ll do it; but I’d much rather you get over your own pity party and work with me to stop your assassination.”

“Piss off,” Charles hisses, and takes Joel by surprise with a mean right hook. One thing’s for sure, he will never look at his father the same way ever again. Joel stumbles back, and in his lapse of concentration, releases his hold over Hank, who takes the opportunity to attack him again. Hank can be quite vicious, Joel finds out as he gets thrown around like a rag doll, and the more pain Joel takes, the less control he has over his more basal instincts.

Hank throws him out of the lab and into the hallway, and as Joel collapses on the floor, his claws unsheathe. He jumps back to his feet and meets Hank halfway, evading the latter’s punches and getting in a couple of cuts on his arms. The gashes Joel makes in Hank’s body don’t seem to faze the blue beast at all, and because they’re evenly matched in terms of strength and speed, Joel takes more hits than he would like. His dad would probably be getting a good laugh over this fight, if he were here. He blames his less than stellar performance on account of the time travel having weakened him.

“That’s enough!” Charles shouts, his voice echoing in Joel’s mind, paralyzing him on his feet. Joel turns to look at Charles, who has fallen to the ground, and hurries to put a mental barrier over his memories and thoughts. Hank’s blue fur progressively disappears, revealing a young handsome man underneath. Hank rushes to Charles’s aid, lifting the latter up from the ground and supporting him. Every movement is fluid and natural, as though Hank’s done it a thousand times before—which, he probably has, Joel thinks.

Joel retracts his claws and takes a few hesitant steps towards them, hands raised in surrender. He doesn’t know what’s going on with Charles’s powers, how they’re linked to his paralysis, but he hopes this reprieve will be the opportunity for them to finally be civil.

“Ok, look, we got off on the wrong foot here,” Joel starts saying, then, after a second of mental shielding, adds, “I’m really here to help. If you need to, just take a quick look in my mind and you’ll know I’m telling the truth.”

“I’ve already tried. Your mind is more guarded than any other I’ve ever seen,” Charles retorts, a frown on his face. Joel never even felt Charles's presence in his mind, and it scares him how stealthy Charles can be. Joel can only hope to master his telepathy to that level. It only confirms that he was right to keep his barriers up at all time. “And you expect me to trust you?”

“For all we know, you are the one here to kill Charles,” Hank adds, the fur disappearing to reveal his human face. It’s a fascinating process that Joel’s never seen before. He didn’t even think it was possible.

“If I wanted to kill him, he’d already be dead by now,” Joel says with a scoff. He leaves out the fact that Charles’s survival is essential to his own. “I’m protecting my memories on purpose so as to reveal as little as possible. Letting you know too much about the future might alter it.”

“Right, because your very own presence here isn’t enough change,” Hank says. “Assuming you actually are from the future.”

“How exactly do you want me to prove that?”

“I personally don’t care, just get the hell out of my house,” Charles spits out, and starts wheeling himself towards the elevator.

“ _Charles_ ,” Joel sends to his father, penetrating the latter’s mental shield. Joel has to focus more than he’s used to as he fights Charles’s psionic blasts back. “ _You have to believe me. I’m one of your students, and where I come from, you’ve helped me and so many others with your school. Not to mention all you have yet to accomplish for mutants’ rights all over the world. Your life is more important than you think, and I’m here to protect it_.”

“ _You’ve got the wrong person_ ,” Charles shoots back, his presence in Joel’s mind so hostile that it knocks Joel’s breath off. “ _That person you’re describing is not me, and cannot be me, now_ fuck off.”

Charles ejects him out of his mind completely then with another blast, and remains completely closed off to Joel. He recognizes in that moment the powerful telepath that is his father, and it leaves him breathless.

“We’ve wasted enough time as it is, the assassin could be here any minute,” Joel says after a deep breath to regain his senses. He’s never been the recipient of such a violent psionic attack, seeing as his father is the only telepath he knows to be more powerful than he is, and he’s never given his father reason to attack him before. He hopes he never will again.

“And what is your plan, exactly, hm?” Charles asks him as he’s maneuvered to a wheelchair. “Wait here until this so-called assassin finds us, and then what? Kill them?”

“This is the first place they’ll come to find you, so no,” Joel replies, getting increasingly frustrated with Charles’s attitude. “We need to take you somewhere safe while we figure out a plan to stop them.”

“I’m not going anywhere on the words of a madman,” Charles says, much like a petulant child. He’s doing a terrific job at destroying the perfect image Joel has of him. He’s tempted to confront his father about this once he gets back to his time.

“Charles, we’re at a disadvantage. I didn’t find out anything about this assassin—who they are, what they look like, their abilities—other than their immunity to telepathy,” Joel raises his voice, for he’s losing his patience. “You will be powerless against them, I don’t know what tricks they could have up their sleeves, and I very much doubt that I can stand up to them on my own.”

They’re startled by a loud bang coming from upstairs, most likely the front door being forced open. _Right on cue_ , Joel thinks bitterly. Joel’s instincts scream danger at him, and his body tenses in anticipation.

“Hank, take Charles through the tunnels to the hanger bay,” Joel orders. “Please tell me you have the blackbird.”

“Uh, yeah,” Hank says, then rushes to Charles’s wheelchair, taking him to the hidden access in one of the walls.

“Then go, take Charles far away from here, I’ll try to gain you some time—”

The roof above collapses in front of Joel before he can finish speaking, separating him from Hank and Charles. He covers his mouth and nose with the sleeve of his shirt, but breathes in a few particles nonetheless, causing him to cough . He instinctively tries to access the intruder’s mind, but finds nothing to take control of. Though he can’t see much because of the cloud of dust that rose in the assassin’s wake, Joel stops the intruder in front of him from lunging at Charles with a force field, and throws them back behind him. Once the dust settles,  Joel takes a better look at his opponent, and is shocked to find a sentinel standing before him. Or rather, a miniature sentinel, compared to the ones they’ve faced before. He thought they had gotten rid of them for good, but it seems their enemies are never going to give up.

The sentinel raises its hand, and Joel reacts just in time, moving it to the side as darts are shot from its palm and land on a wall rather than in Joel's chest. He pushes the robot back again with his mind, throwing a block of ceiling at it, but it doesn’t even leave a dent. He goes for another approach, and tries pulling the damn thing apart, limb by limb, but to no avail. It's never worked before, but it was worth a try.

He pins the sentinel against a wall, barely deflecting the projectiles sent his way, and dashes after Hank and Charles as fast as he can, moving some debris in his wake to slow down the sentinel. Of all the possibilities, it had to be a damn robot. Joel wishes he could take it down alone, that he had Scott’s or Ororo’s destructive powers, but he unfortunately doesn’t. God how he wishes Scott were here with him. Had it been a human, Joel could’ve stood a chance. He has no idea what this particular sentinel is capable of, but if past experiences are any indication, it's gotta be pretty damn resilient and hard to destroy. Joel would rather not find out when he’s got no backup. Not to mention it's going to be impossible to hide from it for very long—what with their mutant-tracking system—and even if they manage to cover their trail, the sentinel might end up hurting other mutants along the way. Joel had not planned for this—granted, he hadn't planned much at all, but still, it complicates things. Fuck.

He’s going to need some help.


	2. Where He Belongs

** **

“You did what?”

“I sent him after Stryker’s sentinel,” Billy repeats himself, standing his ground before Wolverine’s imposing stature. A few years ago, he probably would have recoiled from the angry glare directed at him, but he’s no kid anymore. Professor Xavier puts a hand on Wolverine’s arm, and the latter backs down.

He explains the whole story to the x-men, leaving no detail out. Joel got word of William Stryker setting up a new plan to eliminate the Professor, and upon further investigation, Joel found out about the time portal Stryker had built, and came to Billy for help, panicked and in a hurry. After sending Joel to the facility where Stryker kept his time portal, Billy investigated a bit more about Stryker’s plans. What he found only confirmed Joel’s findings, the plan to kill Charles in the past, seeing as doing it now would be just impossible. What Joel didn’t know though, was that they’d planned to send a sentinel back. Somehow Stryker managed to salvage what little had been left of Trask's project, and pulled the last resources available to build one last sentinel.

“Why did he go alone? He can’t take on a sentinel by himself! You should’ve told him to ask for help instead of sending him off on his own,” Scott says, his tone accusatory as he crowds in on Billy. Teddy steps between them before Scott can get any closer, and soon he can sense the Prof’s presence in their mind, telling them all to calm down. He puts a hand on Teddy’s arm, giving the latter a reassuring nod. He didn’t need Teddy to come with him, but they’ve agreed a long time ago to stop keeping things from each other. In any case, Billy’s never going to refuse Teddy’s help or moral support.

“I should go with him,” Scott adds, looking directly at him. It’s hard to tell what Scott thinks sometimes, what with the glasses hiding his eyes, but the frown and pinched lips are telling enough.

“We didn’t know it would be a sentinel at the time, I only found out after. Besides, he thought it was best he go alone, in case things didn’t work out with the time travel,” Billy explains. “And I agreed. It’s going to be far easier for me if I only have one person to retrieve from the past.”

“How is it even possible? A time machine? How did Stryker even pull that off? Not to mention, we’ve destroyed all the sentinels a while back, as well as Trask’s factories and blueprints,” Beast says, looking perplexed and, Billy assumes, curious about the technology behind the machine.

“I don’t know how he built the portal. And obviously you didn’t destroy everything,”  Billy says as diplomatically as possible, knowing how the news has set everyone on edge.

“It doesn’t make sense, if Stryker really sent a sentinel in the past to kill me, shouldn’t I remember it?” Charles asks, which is a good question.

“There are several possibilities,” Billy starts. “The first one is, Joel going back in the past has created an alternate timeline parallel to ours, where everything up until the moment he got there is the same, and he’s out there in the multiverse. Which would explain why you have no recollection of Joel going back in your past. The second possibility is that everyone involved had their memory erased to avoid altering our present. Third one is that Joel somehow avoided involving anyone at all, and you never even knew a sentinel was out to kill you.”

“An alternate reality? Seriously?” Wolverine says, dubious.

“How can we know for sure what happened?” Scott asks, jaw clenched and arms crossed, doing his best to hide how worried he is. Billy can only imagine what he’s going through, and feels for him. He would tear  the whole universe apart if Teddy were ever lost from him.

“Before I sent him to the portal, I told him to leave some kind of message in his room for us to find, once he’s done dealing with the sentinel. That way, if he is in our timeline, I can pull him back and bring him in the present,” Billy explains—he doesn’t mention that he’s not certain he can pull that off—and turns to Scott. “I don’t know where exactly he’d hide it, but I thought you of all people would know.”

“I’ll go take a look,” Scott says with a nod, and turns to leave the Prof’s office.

“What if he is in another universe?” The Prof inquires. “He would have gone back in time for nothing.”

“I didn’t—and still don’t—know for sure whether that time portal would create a parallel universe, there’s no predicting it,” Billy replies, understanding the Prof’s concern all too well. He just didn’t mention this to Joel at the time, knowing it wouldn’t change the latter’s decision anyway. “I thought it wasn’t worth taking the risk, and neither did Joel. Even if it did create another universe, I think it’s still worth it if Joel manages to keep you alive there.”

“And how the hell are we supposed to get him back from another universe? Can you do that, kid?” Wolverine asks, a brief flash of concern showing in his eyes.

“I suppose I could, in theory,” Billy says hesitantly. “If I can’t, there’s still America.”

“That’s unacceptable. America can only travel between worlds, not across time. I refuse to let my son stuck in another universe for over 40 years,” the Prof says.

“You better start working your mojo right now, Billy,” Scott says as he strides back in the room, having probably caught the Prof’s last words. “I didn’t find anything.”

Just like that, every pair of eyes in the room turn on Billy, making him feel uneasy. Teddy’s hand on his shoulder is a reassuring presence, at least. Billy really doesn’t know what he would do without him. This is the scenario he’d feared, which will make his work difficult. If Joel is in this timeline, his inability to leave them a message bears no good news. Billy, of course, doesn’t share this eventuality to the others, knowing how stressed they already are.

“All right, I’ll be outside,” Billy says, exhaling before teleporting himself and Teddy out in the gardens of the property.

“Billy.”

Teddy stops him with a hand on his arm before he can start casting, looking as worried as usual whenever Billy’s about to enter his Demiurge state, which is understandable. Having control over reality is no joke, and Billy’s still afraid he’ll mess up royally after altering one tiny detail. He gives Teddy a soft smile and a nod, acknowledging his boyfriend’s concern. “Be careful.”

“I will,” Billy replies, noticing Scott approach from his peripheral vision, the Prof and Wolverine not far behind. He breathes in slowly, closing his eyes and focusing on drawing the energy around him, from the universe. He’s only done this twice, including the first shaky try with Mother, and he knows he has yet to complete his ascension to Demiurge, but this time should not be too difficult. He’s simply retrieving Joel and bringing him back to this universe, to this timeline. Where he belongs. Easier said than done, unfortunately.

Locating someone he knows, in their own timeline, in the present, is easy. He’s never done it across universes, but he has to. He focuses on Joel, searching for him across timelines. Billy finds many versions of him, and has to learn how to tell them apart, how to find the one from their universe. Finding the right universe is one thing, but Billy also has to find the right point in time to extract Joel. It’s going to take more time than he thought.

\------

“I hate standing here waiting,” Scott mutters, looking up at Billy every once in a while, the latter levitating in the air with a glowing magic circle around him. It’s always fascinating, seeing Billy doing actual magic, but this is on a whole other level of awe. As minutes go by, Scott starts getting antsy, and he knows it shows, no matter how hard he tries to hide it.

“What can we do?” Charles says.

“We could always go kick Stryker’s ass,” Logan suggests, earning himself a nudge and a scolding look from Charles.

“That’s not going to solve anything, Logan,” Charles counters, worrying over his bottom lip. He’s as worried as the rest of them, Scott realizes. Joel can take care of himself, they all know that, but he’s stuck in another universe nonetheless. Seeing those two bicker like the old married couple they are only makes Scott’s heart twinge.

After what feels like an eternity, Billy lands on solid ground, the glow in his eyes gone, a severe look taking place on his face.

“Well? Did you find him?” Scott demands when he reaches the mage, his heart pounding in his chest.

“I did,” Billy replies, his gaze cast down on his feet.

“You can’t bring him back, can you?” Charles says in a defeated tone.

“I have the potential to do it,” Billy starts tentatively. “I just—I’m not sure  I know how. The last time I tried to bring someone into our universe, it was a disaster. It’s not as simple as teleportation. It would require creating a bridge between our two worlds.”

“There’s something else you’re not telling us,” Logan points out, sounding more fatherly than reproachful.

“It’s complicated, but I can see key moments and variable outcomes in a timeline depending on how those key moments play out. I’ve been trying to find the right moment in their universe to bring Joel back, but...”

“But?” Scott prompts impatiently.

“Who am I to decide which outcome is best?” Billy says, sounding a little pained. It makes Scott regret being so harsh with Billy, and it reminds him that Billy’s still a kid, barely out of college.

“Who cares what happens in that universe? You said it was created because of the time travel, didn’t you? It shouldn’t even exist, and whatever happens there won’t affect us here, right? Just bring Joel back,” Scott tries to soften his tone, and though they remain silent, he can tell Logan and Charles agree with him. Billy only looks more conflicted, turning to Teddy for guidance.

“I’m not sure that it won’t affect our timeline, but you’re right,” Billy says after a moment, letting out a short breath. “He has to come back sooner or later.”

“If you could bring him back after Charles's life is no longer in danger, that’d be great,” Logan adds before Billy can start his magic again. Logan glances at Charles, looking ridiculously fond. “Even if it’s not our universe, Charles should be alive. It wouldn’t be right otherwise.”

“Agreed. I’ll see what I can do, but I make no promises,” Billy says, and they all step back, leaving room for the mage to work his magic. Teddy stands close by, just like he did earlier,, as though ready to intervene at any given moment if things go wrong. Billy’s eyes glow bright as he rises a few feet from the ground, his lips moving at a fast pace but his voice inaudible to the rest of them. The circled pentagram appears around Billy again, through which Scott sees an umpteenth number of stars in a colorful night sky. He’s never seen Billy do this before today, and he has to admit it is impressive. He often forgets just how powerful Wiccan is, and it’s a good thing to be reminded every now and then. Scott’s just glad Billy is on the same side.

This time it doesn’t take Billy as long. A few minutes after Billy’s started, he moves his hands around in a circular motion, which creates what Scott guesses is a portal. He holds his breath as he waits, and soon enough he sees Joel come through the bright round portal and land on the grass on his hands and knees. Scott’s feet move before he can think, and they take him to Joel’s side in a couple of strides. He envelops Joel in a tight embrace, relief washing over him.

“Are you okay?” Scott mutters, his heart lightening up now that he has Joel in his arms, back in one piece. He pulls away to inspect the other man, finding no apparent bruises—Joel does heal fast, after all. Joel looks the same, except for the beard he’s apparently grown in his time spent in the past. Though Joel’s only been gone for half a day to him, Scott feels like it’s been forever.

“Scott?”

Joel looks perplexed, looking frantically around him. The others have joined them, evident relief written on their faces as well.

“You’re back with us, son,” Logan says, patting Joel’s shoulder, mouth curved in a half grin.

“You have Billy to thank for that,” Charles adds, smiling at the mage, undoubtedly giving his thanks mentally to him. Joel walks over to them, hugging his parents for a short moment. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Joel turns to look at Billy then, saying in a harsh tone, “Bill, I told you I wasn't done there! I need you to send me back.”

“Out of the question,” Scott protests as he grabs Joel’s shoulders, confused that the latter would even want to do that. “You’re lucky Billy was able to bring you back at all, and you want to risk going back there?”

That earns Scott a glare from Joel, and while it stings to be on the receiving end of that look, his determination prevails. He’s not going to let Joel out of his sight any time soon if he can help it. He glances at Billy, silently asking for support, but only finds a conflicted look on the mage’s face.

“I need to fix something,” Joel replies, stepping back from Scott to turn to Billy. “Billy, you know why I’m asking this of you.”

“I do, but Joel, nothing has changed here,” Billy says, gesturing at both Charles and Logan as if to prove his point, which eludes Scott. “Your trip to the past has created another timeline altogether. None of what’s happened while you were there has affected our universe.”

“What?”

“I don’t think Stryker had taken this into consideration in his plans,” Teddy says, and now that he’s got everyone’s attention, he adds. “He’s going to figure out his plan has failed soon enough. We should beat him to it and make sure he doesn’t build more sentinels.”

“Did you take out the sentinel he’s sent to the past?” Charles asks Joel in a calm tone, having sensed the tension in the air.

“Yes, but—”

“Then you’ve done all there was to do,” Charles cuts his son off, leaving no place for discussion. Scott has had many arguments with Charles end this way himself to know the Professor won’t hear any more of it. Joel is not Scott though.

“Are you telling me you would rather be with Magneto—or should I say Erik— rather than Dad, then? Even if it’s in another universe?” Joel shoots back at Charles, and Scott notices the dark expression on both Charles’s Logan’s faces at the mention of Magneto. It takes Scott a second to process Joel’s words, and once he does, he glances at Charles, looking for answers. Picturing the Professor and Magneto...romantically involved? It just seems farfetched, and Scott’s mind rejects the idea entirely.

“That’s ridiculous,” Charles says, but even to Scott, he sounds defensive. If he could detect it, there’s no way Joel didn’t sense it as well, and the scowl he sends Charles’s way is confirmation enough.

“Is it? Are you telling me you and he never had anything?”

“What happened back there, son?” Logan interjects, his wrath barely contained from his features and voice.

“It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done, and we should focus on our own present right now,” Billy says, trying but failing to cool things down, as Joel ignores him completely. Scott probably isn’t the only one who’s curious to know what exactly went on while Joel was there, in that other timeline, and Billy’s the only outsider who has any clue at all. Joel looks at them all with a grim face before he rubs his eyes into the heels of his palm, shoulders slacking with exhaustion.

“You want to know what happened? I’ll show you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I'm going to finish this story before the end of challenge, but at least I'm confident that I will finish it. Thank you for all your lovely comments so far, I'll get to them once I have more time. I'd really like to focus on writing, but know that they mean the world to me. 
> 
> I am really excited to introduce Billy and Teddy, I adore them, and this is the opportunity for me to do some more fancasting for them as adults. I've wanted to get the time travel technicalities out of the way, to make things clear for everyone, because that's what's taken me the longest to figure out. I hope it works.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter and apologize for the cliffhanger, but that's what they're for, right? To end chapters? Anyhow, let me know what you think, comments are always appreciated.


	3. Revisiting the Past

Joel manages to escape the underground level of the mansion, the sentinel following him close behind. He has no idea how he’s supposed to lose it, with its ability to track mutants. Out in the open, he runs through the gardens in the back of the property, throwing whatever object he finds at the sentinel. He can’t recall the last time he’s felt so powerless, and he hates it. He realizes quickly that running to the gardens is a bad idea, as he runs out of projectiles, and has no choice but to deflect the ones shot at him back to the sentinel. He’s scared shitless that those darts might contain the hope serum. He would be in deep, deep trouble if he lost his powers now—not to mention all of mutantkind. He discards the thought, reassuring himself that they’ve destroyed every potential means for their enemies to create that serum long ago, and ignoring the thought that they’d done the same with the sentinels too.

His entire body is sore, after having been thrown against different surfaces by the sentinel, which managed to break free of his mental grasp a couple of times, and turned out to move much faster than Joel anticipated. Joel has been pushing the robot away from him ever since to keep it at a safe distance. Tired of running, he’s now keeping the sentinel immobilized a few feet away as he tries to come up with an escape plan. At least this sentinel doesn’t seem capable of copying mutant abilities, thank fuck—unlike the last generation of sentinels they’ve faced and destroyed. Now those were a pain to get rid of.

Joel dodges yet another dart sent his way, his attention called by the loud humming of the blackbird’s engines. He spots the blackbird rising up in the sky from the underground hanger, but instead of flying away, the aircraft is coming towards him.

“ _Hank, what the fuck are you doing? Go away, the sentinel is right in front of me!_ ” Joel sends to Hank’s mind, fear rising in him as the plane approaches. He’s stretched both his telekinesis and telepathy thin, and struggles against a killer headache as he works to keep the sentinel put.

“ _Sentinel? Is that what that thing is called?_ ” Hank sends back.

“ _Yes, I’ll explain later, but you should go, it’s already spotted you._ ”

“ _We’re coming to get you, can you keep that thing on the ground?_ ”

Joel turns back to look at the sentinel, whose attention is solely fixed on the blackbird. Joel deflects the missiles shot at the plane, redirecting them back at the robot. No matter how he goes about it, Joel sees no other way out of here than to go with Hank’s plan. He won’t be able to keep the sentinel here indefinitely, and he needs time to come up with a plan to destroy it. Hopefully this sentinel can’t fly and chase after them, though Joel highly doubts it. He just has to ensure the sentinel isn’t given the opportunity to fly while he gets to the blackbird—it’s as much a head start as he can get.

“All right, hold on. Lower the plane a bit, I’ll meet you halfway,” Joel tells Hank, and breathes in slowly, keeping one hand pointed at the sentinel to keep it still as he levitates himself towards the blackbird. Within seconds, the rear hatch opens and he barely makes it inside the aircraft. Using his telekinesis to both fly and keep the sentinel put on the ground has drained him. He releases a heavy breath, allowing himself to relax for a second after having overexerted his powers so much.

Looking inside the blackbird, Joel finds Hank at the commands all the way down in the cockpit, and Charles strapped to a seat on one side of the blackbird, eyeing him with an inquisitive look, his wariness of Joel clear as day. Joel ignores him, glancing back through the open hatch to check that the sentinel isn’t following them. He can only reach so far with his powers, and after a certain altitude, his hold over the sentinel broke. As Joel expected, the sentinel catches up to them at high speed, and starts firing at them through the open hatch—or rather, fires at Charles, Joel realizes with horror.

“Get down!” Joel shouts as he quickly creates a force field around his father, deflecting the rest of the bullets back at the sentinel. He wonders just how much ammo this machine is carrying, considering how much it’s fired at Joel already. He turns to the sentinel and attempts to push it down towards the ground while keeping the force field he generated around Charles.

“Hank, a little help would be more than welcome!” he says, giving up on trying to take the sentinel down himself, and pulls the hatch close.

“Give me a second!” Hank calls back. “And hold on to something!”

Joel gets a grip on one handle just in time as the blackbird twirls abruptly, to avoid one of the sentinel’s missiles, Joel assumes. Hank makes more twists and turns, forcing Joel to levitate at times to avoid bumping into the walls, and after one loud bang, the aircraft stabilizes.

“Everyone all right?” Hank inquires, wide-eyed and a hint of excitement showing on his face. “One of the concussive missiles hit it!”

Joel nods, hoping it’ll buy them enough time to lose the sentinel. He steadies himself on his feet before walking over to check on Charles. He rushes to his father’s side when he spots patches of blood, his heart leaping to his throat when he realizes he wasn’t fast enough when he brought the shield up around Charles.

“Hank! Pa—Charles has been hit!” he yells, panic overwhelming him as he inspects his father’s body. Joel wonders just how much detail went into this sentinel’s programming, for singling Charles out so perfectly. It almost seemed like it could detect Charles’s presence in the blackbird, even when the latter couldn’t be seen from the ground. It sends chills up Joel’s back, and he feels like he’s on the brink of breaking down. He’s never seen his father injured and so vulnerable. He hates it.

“What the bloody hell was that?” Charles mutters, face torn with pain as he holds his left arm, where Joel can see two bullet wounds.

“That was a sentinel, a killing machine that’s programmed to detect us mutants,” Joel answers, watching as Hank appears by Charles’s side in an instant, unfastening the belts around Charles to better assess his state. He and Hank exchange glances, and it’s really Hank’s collected posture that reassures Joel.

“Can you remove the bullets?” Hank asks him with a calm tone, and Joel nods in response.

He focuses on the two wounds, moving the blood away to get a clear view of the bullets to pull them out and into the palm of his hand, cringing at Charles’s scream. He looks around the aircraft for a first aid kit, knowing Hank would think to equip the blackbird with one, and finds it fixed to the opposite wall.  

“Were you hit anywhere else?” Hank asks, taking the kit Joel levitates towards him.

“I don’t think so,” Charles replies, hissing in pain as Hank begins disinfecting the wounds and bandaging his arm.

“We still need to get you to a hospital,” Hank says, and hands Charles some antibiotic to swallow, as well as some painkillers.

“Is that the wisest choice right now?” Joel asks. “That sentinel will be right on our tail.”

“We don’t have a choice. I won’t have the medical resources necessary to make sure Charles is all right. We might not even need to admit him for a full night.”

“Okay,” Joel says. He really hopes the sentinel won’t attack them there, thinking of all the civilians that might get caught in the crossfire.

“Hank, I need the serum,” Charles says through gritted teeth, to which Hank nods. Hank proceeds to inject Charles with a clear liquid, which intrigues Joel as he watches the relief on his father’s face.

“What is this?”

“I’ll explain later,” is all Hank says, and after he makes sure Charles isn’t bleeding to death, he gets back to the cockpit. That leaves Joel alone with his father, the latter eyeing him suspiciously still, and it unnerves him. It’s completely wrong that he feels like he can’t talk to his own father, but here he is. This Charles Xavier is basically a stranger to him, after all, and vice versa.

“Who are you, really?” Charles asks him, while taking slow deep breaths.

“I’ve told you all you need to know,” Joel replies. Something hits him then. He’s given them his real name, and seeing how Charles and he are getting along right now, Joel has a hard time seeing Charles naming his son after him. This opens Joel’s mind to a multitude of questions about the implications of his traveling back in time here, questions that he doesn’t feel comfortable addressing now.

Just as he stands up from his crouch, ready to walk away, Charles stops him cold with one thought.

“ _You called me Papa._ ”

Joel lets out a silent gasp, holding his breath as he processes what Charles’s just said to him.

“ _I did not_ ,” Joel denies, and tries to recall everything he’s said. Sure, his tongue almost slipped in his moment of distress, but the full word never came out of his mouth.

“ _You did. When that thing shot me, you screamed it in your head. Kind of hard to miss._ ”

Hard to explain that one, Joel reckons. Charles gives him a pointed look, one he’s been on the receiving end of too many times. At a loss as to what to say, Joel remains silent, which is probably all the confirmation Charles needs. Joel sees it in the all too familiar pair of eyes in front of him—the eyes everyone says Joel’s got from his father—the moment when everything clicks into place in Charles’s head.

“You’re my son,” Charles says out loud, and just like earlier, Joel stumbles into his father’s unguarded mind, all of a sudden. He finally understands it for what it is, that his father’s telepathy is somehow disabled, right after receiving that serum injection. It’s not hard to put two and two together, but it does beg the question of _why_. He decides to trust Hank and get his explanation later, he can’t imagine his father will be very forthcoming right now.

There’s a finality to Charles’s tone, and Joel knows then that this is a point of no return. He may very well be endangering his very own future, revealing everything to his father, but what is the point of denying it? The cat’s out of the bag.

“I have a son,” Charles breathes out, his face unreadable, a combination of shock and disappointment entwined with delight all at once.

“If I manage to save your life, yes, you will,” Joel speaks at last, seeing no point in trying to hide it any longer. He feels helpless, seeing how everything is getting out of his control, and he fears how his presence here is affecting the future already. Uncomfortable with roaming around Charles’s head so freely, Joel stays out of it, but he still can sense the confusion at the surface, and above all, he can sense his father’s burning curiosity.

“I know you have a lot of questions right now,” Joel says before Charles can start firing them at him. “But now is not the best time. And frankly, the less you know, the better.”

He goes join Hank in the cockpit when he’s sure Charles’s life isn’t in immediate danger, not knowing how to deal with this version of Charles. He’s just not comfortable with this broken wreckage that is supposed to be his father, an image he cannot conciliate with what he’s always seen of Charles Xavier. Hank, however, seems to be the same old reliable man that his parents chose as his godfather—except for his current human appearance, which Joel will have to get used to—a constant source of comfort to Joel whenever he needs it, and to his father too, it seems.

“Do you have any idea where to take us?” he asks as he comes up behind Hank.

“We have some safe houses prepared just in case,” Hank replies, turning to look at him with a curious gaze. “I have one in mind that’s close to a hospital.”

“Sounds good,” Joel says, and he takes the other seat beside Hank, allowing himself to sit back as exhaustion crashes down on him. He could definitely use an extended nap. He waits for the latter to ask some questions of his own. There’s no way he didn’t hear Charles just now. Joel chances a glance at him, and a quick peek into Hank’s mind confirms that he does have a lot of questions, but is choosing not to harass Joel about it. Some things don’t change, he notes with amusement. Joel caves quickly, because he’s never been able to withhold anything from Hank for long, the latter just has this aura that makes Joel want to spill his guts out. “You’re my godfather.”

“Am I?” Hank sounds pleasantly surprised as he looks at him.

“Who else could it be?” Joel returns, smiling despite everything that’s going on. “You...You’ve always had my back, and father’s too. I’m sorry I hurt you, earlier.”

“Well, I guess I should apologize too, for attacking my godson, don’t I?” Hank says. “Had you been more forthcoming and less...aggressive, though, it wouldn’t have come to us exchanging blows.”

Joel heaves a sigh, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “I know. I wish it had gone differently, but I really didn’t want to risk altering the future. Even that I messed up.”

“You know, many physicists and philosophers have theorized that time is—”

“Immutable,” Joel finishes for Hank, remembering now the first time Hank introduced that notion to him. Hank looks delighted by that, and the same flutter of satisfaction that Joel used to get whenever answering one of Hank’s questions right resurfaces in his chest.

“That’s right. They say time is a like a river. You can throw a pebble in it, create some ripples, but the flow would eventually resume its course. Perhaps this—you and this sentinel thing coming back in time—was always meant to happen.”

“If the sentinel had succeeded, I wouldn’t be here,” Joel concludes.

“Exactly,” Hank says. “Unless you’re already born.”

“No, I won’t be born for…” Joel trails off, recalling the date he entered in the time machine, and doing the math in his head. “Shit.”

“What?” Hank prompts, watching him from the corner of his eye. Joel ponders whether to tell Hank for a second. He decides to do it in the end, considering he’s already let them know that Charles is his father. He might as well go all out.

“My birthdate is December 21st, 1973.”

“That’s later this year,” Hank remarks, wide-eyed.

“Yes, it is.”

Joel has no idea where his dad might be at this moment in time, and he wonders how his parents are going to meet at this rate, if at all. All he thought about was protecting his father’s life, which, somewhere in his subconscious, he knew was essential to his own survival; but he never thought he would actually have to play matchmaker as well. This just complicates things. He must look as troubled as he feels, for Hank doesn’t probe him for more answers, the latter probably wondering who his mother is.

“I don’t know what to do, Hank,” Joel admits after a moment. He’s been trained to work with people as a team. He can hold his own fairly well, but against machines? He can’t do much. Charles and Hank won’t be of much help either against a sentinel.

“We’ll have time to figure something out. There must be other...people you know we can find here in our time period, right?”

“You always have an answer to everything,” Joel says, feeling slightly more optimistic. Thank God for Hank McCoy. Joel does have a few people in mind that he could ask for help, the first being his dad.

“I have answers to a lot of things, but not everything, alas,” Hank says, a wave of sadness reaching Joel as he sees thoughts of Charles come to Hank’s mind. The images of his father, broken and drunk, screaming his lungs out, are too painful to watch, causing Joel to pull out of Hank’s mind.

“ _What happened to him? I mean, I never thought I’d see him like this,_ ” Joel sends to Hank, not wanting Charles to hear this conversation. He turns in his seat to check on his father, who looks lost in thought at the moment, almost...haunted. Hank heaves a sigh, meeting his eyes before answering him.

“ _You don’t know?_ ”

“ _I only know the basics about my parents, actually. There are some things in their pasts they chose to keep from me, and I never asked. Do you know every sordid details of your parents’ lives, Hank?_ ”

“ _Point_ ,” Hank concedes, and lets out another long sigh, his head invaded by melancholy and compassion. “ _Well, it’s a long story._ ”

“ _We have time now, don’t we?_ ”

“ _I guess we do. Alright, I’ll tell you. It all starts in 1962, during the Cuban missiles crisis._ ”

\-------------------

Charles definitely hates being shot at, what with his unfortunate track record. He dozes off at some point during their escape, numbed by the painkillers and the serum. The fact that they get to the safe house with him undisturbed is proof that there have been no other encounter with his assassin.

He lets Hank and Joel drag him wherever they please, his mind mostly idle and not paying attention to his surrounding. He’s still suffering from the aftershock of the day’s events, which, he thinks, is perfectly understandable. You don’t find out every day that a mutant-killing machine was sent from the future after you, and that your son traveled back in time to save your life. It’s a lot to digest. Speaking of which, Charles has very mixed feelings about his son. No matter how much he wants to deny it, Charles knows without a doubt that Joel is actually his son. He never pictured himself having biological offsprings, always thinking he would have to adopt. From the abilities that Joel has displayed to his looks, however, it seems that Charles will indeed impregnate some poor woman. He’s curious to know how that will happen.

Charles is taken to a hospital nearby as soon as they settle things in the safe house, and amazingly, the sentinel—as he’s told the robot is called—is nowhere to be seen. He watches with awe as Joel manipulates the minds of every hospital personnel to get what they want. It’s a sore reminder of another thing he’s lost. His telepathy, while still very much present when he’s not subject to Hank’s serum, is now tainted by agony. He’s not in control anymore, and it kills him.

Thanks to Joel’s work, Charles gets security to guard his room, even if they won’t stand a chance against that sentinel. Joel doesn’t leave his side while nurses come to take blood samples and physicians examine him. They take him to the operating room, assuring him that it’s nothing serious, but that his wounds need to be explored surgically and can’t be simply stitched up.

Hank returns to the safe house once Charles is settled in his room after the short procedure, to do what he does best. Research. Building stuff. Solving problems.

Joel, however, stays with him. They haven’t spoken a word to each other since they got off the blackbird, and it borders on awkward. Charles has a million questions to ask, but has no idea how to voice them. He doesn’t even know whether he wants to hear the answers to those questions. Who’s Joel’s mother? Did he actually settle down with a woman?

All those questions remain unanswered, in Charles’s mind, as he succumbs to a deep slumber, with Joel watching over him. He feels oddly safe, knowing Joel is at his side.  

When he opens his eyes to bright lights and a familiar pentagon-shaped room, Charles realizes that sense of security has betrayed him yet again. He’s standing, looking around the gray concrete walls and the glass ceiling he’s seen too many times to his liking. He clenches his hands into fists as he stares at the toilet before him, trying to force his treacherous mind to get away from this place, which he’s sworn to never enter again but keeps coming back to anyway.

“Hello, Charles.”

He hoped he wouldn’t be noticed, that he could leave without alerting to his presence. It never happens this way, unfortunately. He resolves to turn around and face the man he’s been trying to avoid all these years in vain, heart beating fast in his chest when he meets those light gray eyes and that handsome face.

“Hello, Erik.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another cliffhanger! (or is it, really?) I apologize for taking so long to update, but this chapter was a pain to write. It doesn't help that I'm a slow/lazy writer. But here it is, I wish more exciting stuff happened, but it's coming, I promise. I hope you're enjoying the story nonetheless, let me know what you think! Comments are always appreciated, and are a great motivation :D


	4. Old Flame Ignited

Erik closes the distance between them in two quick strides, worry written all over his face.

“You’re wearing a hospital gown. What happened, Charles?” Erik inquires, eyes catching on the bandage around Charles’s arm. He looks down at his attire, seeing that he is indeed appearing in Erik’s mind with the clothes he’s currently wearing back in his hospital bed, asleep.

“Nothing,” he lies, a lump stuck in his throat. It feels like he can’t breathe, every time he finds himself in this prison, and he knows it has nothing to do with the cramped quarters. The gravity of his current situation doesn’t help either, and Charles wishes he didn’t have to face death in the eye to believe Joel’s warning. He breaks off the eye contact, unable to withstand the fire in Erik’s steely gaze, burning him to his core, even after all these years.

“Charles,” Erik says his name with a strained voice. “You’re in a hospital bed. Please tell me what’s going on.”

Charles has no clear explanation for these recurrent visits he makes in Erik’s mind. It’s happened so often in the past ten years that he’s lost count. He’s managed to reach Erik across the world in his sleep, something he cannot do under normal circumstances without Cerebro. A part of him knows, even if he represses it, that these encounters happen whenever he or Erik finds himself reaching for the other. The problem is, his mind is as open to Erik as Erik’s is to him. It’s difficult to hide things from each other in this state.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Charles replies, his steady voice surprising himself, scoffing as he recalls the recent events that landed him in the hospital. He feels rough skin touching his face then, fingers moving his rebellious strands of hair away from his face and tucked behind his ear. He really ought to do something about his hair, he thinks.

“Show me, please,” Erik whispers, and Charles does. He doesn’t want to fight with Erik—neither of them has it in them to fight each other anymore. They’ve had many opportunities to scream at each other over the years, to unleash all the rage, resentment, and regret that tie them together. There was a time, long ago, when Charles thought Erik would be his future. He now has living proof that a woman will somehow come into his life, even if he has a hard time picturing it. Charles doesn’t have all the answers, of course, and he still has hope. For all he knows, Joel might be the product of a one-night stand. Even though Charles has mostly gone for men ever since Erik, he wouldn’t be surprised if he’d gone home with a lady or two in one of his drunken stupors. As he shows Erik his memories of the past day, he leaves out the part where he finds out Joel is his son, not finding it relevant for Erik to understand the situation.

“I should be with you,” Erik says after a moment of silence, once he’s seen everything Charles had to show him.

“You’re in the most heavily guarded prison on this earth, Erik,” Charles counters as he gestures at their surroundings. He appreciates the sentiment nonetheless.

“Nothing can stop me from protecting you.”

He looks up at Erik then, losing himself in those fierce and beautiful eyes, heart hammering away against his chest. Charles often wonders what he’s done in a past life to have not one, but two tragically doomed relationships. Erik and Raven remain to this day his biggest failures. Love really is a thing of mystery, Charles muses, for pushing him towards Erik when their respective ideologies contradict one another so completely, when his brain is struggling with his heart in this very moment.

“If I can’t find a way out, I hope you will,” Erik adds when Charles has nothing to say, throat closed up from the intense wave of protectiveness flooding him. He knows Erik’s tried to escape more than once, and all of his attempts failed. Erik has at least had the decency—and pride, most likely—not to ask Charles to help break him out of his cell.

“You’re locked up in here for a reason.”

“Haven’t we been over this already, Charles? I’m innocent.”

“Of the crime they condemned you here, perhaps,” Charles replies. “But you and I both know you’re far from innocent.”

“I’ve never pretended to be anything else than what I am,” Erik says, finishing the thought in Charles’s head. “ _And I am yours, Charles. For as long as I shall live._ ”

Erik cups his face then, before Charles can dart his eyes away. Inevitably, their faces inch closer, until their lips meet at last. Resisting Erik is as pointless as trying to not breathe, and Charles _has_ tried resisting. Charles has given up on trying to figure out this invisible pull between them, unwavering and relentless, and his body goes limp from this one kiss, the first since that last night they spent together before parting ways. Erik claims his mouth, hungry and possessive, arms wrapped tightly around Charles’s back. Although this is all happening in Erik’s mind, it feels as real as it can get, and after having been deprived of this for so many years, Charles can’t stop kissing Erik. In a lot of ways, he feels like an addict relapsing, with so many emotions plaguing him at once as he ravages Erik. Craving. Guilt. Relief.

Sometimes, Charles wishes he didn’t have access to Erik’s thoughts. It certainly made it easier when Erik left him on that beach in Cuba—mind protected by that Godforsaken helmet—to pretend Erik didn’t love nor care about him. When he projects his consciousness to Erik’s mind in his sleep, however, he’s not granted that privilege. Here, in Erik’s head, Charles can feel everything Erik feels, and the love Erik holds for him burns him every single time.

“I’ll be there with you as soon as I can, I promise you,” Erik breathes out when they finally pull away, his lips brushing against Charles’s as he speaks. He shouldn’t want this, after what Erik has done to him, and knowing what Erik stands for goes against Charles’s principles. The thing is, Charles doesn’t stand for much these days, too busy to wallow in his misery. Being here with Erik, Charles feels safe, _loved_ , and it’s no wonder his mind wandered to find the one person that could comfort him in this time of need, even when he didn’t know it. He envelops Erik in a tight embrace, the man as solid as Charles remembers him, his fear subdued by the strong arms hugging him back.

“I’m…I don’t know what to do, Erik,” Charles admits as he buries his face in Erik’s neck.

“Survive,” Erik replies. “No matter the cost, Charles. I need you to survive. And be careful around that man from the future, we can’t trust him.”

“Ok,” Charles agrees, mostly to please Erik. Joel might have come across as harsh and cold, but as insane as it sounds, Charles wants to believe and trust Joel. Even more insane, he’s looking forward to having Erik at his side, his future son’s feelings be damned. Under other circumstances, he would be loath to have Erik come to his rescue, but Charles is powerless against that sentinel thing, and Erik is a force to be reckoned with. If anyone can destroy it, it has to be Erik—or so Charles hopes.

“See you soon, Charles,” Erik says, dropping a peck on Charles’s forehead, right before his consciousness pulls away and slips back into his body. He opens his eyes to the white ceiling of his hospital room, dimly lit by the lights over his bed—not too bright, but bright enough to let him see that Joel is still awake by his side. Soon enough, his mind is invaded by all the thoughts surrounding him all at once, pounding at his skull relentlessly.

“What time is it?” he croaks as he presses the heel of his palm against his forehead, trying to block out the voices invading his mind. He’s grateful when Joel hands him a glass of water to soothe his dry throat.

“5 a.m.”

“Thank you,” Charles says as he gives the glass back to his son. His son. That’s still something Charles is trying to process. “Didn’t you sleep at all?”

“Just a little.”

Silence falls between them, heavy and tense, leaving Charles on edge. He hopes his future self’s relationship with his son is better than this.  

“Where were you just now?” Joel asks after a moment, a suspicious look on his face. A face that, no matter how much Charles hates to admit, looks familiar to him. He can see pieces of himself in Joel, and he can’t help wondering who is the woman that will give birth to his son.

“Didn’t go anywhere, as you can see,” Charles retorts after a moment, gesturing at his body.

“You know that’s not what I meant. Your mind wasn’t here,” Joel says, and Charles can feel the latter trying to poke inside his mind. He pushes back. “You projected it.”

“I was asleep. I don’t remember being anywhere,” Charles lies, not feeling like baring his soul to Joel at the moment—nor any time soon, for that matter. Thankfully, Joel doesn’t prod further, leaving the matter alone with a nod. Then Hank barges in the room, his panic bleeding over to Charles.

“We need to move, now,” Hank says as he rushes to Charles’s side, pulling out a syringe out of a med kit. Joel jumps to his feet, bringing his fingers to his temple as he stands at the foot of Charles’s bed. For a second, Charles sees his old self in Joel—young and confident, unafraid to use his powers—and his current struggle with his own powers makes it hard for him to watch Joel at work.

“What’s going on?” he asks Hank, choosing to look at his old friend instead. Hank looks like he hasn’t slept at all, which is probably true—though that’s never stopped Hank from being fully functional before.

“The sentinel has been spotted by the police 20 miles from here,” Hank explains while he injects a dose of his serum into Charles’s IV line. The voices soon leave Charles’s head, blessed silence taking over in their wake, and he breathes a sigh of relief. “It killed a whole squad before escaping. It’s on its way here.”

“We’re clear to go,” Joel says, severe face turned on Charles.

The beeping sounds from the machine monitoring his vitals come quicker, and Charles can barely keep up with the conversation between Hank and Joel.

“You should go,” Hank tells Joel while he takes off every piece of medical equipment from Charles’s body. Charles frowns at that, wondering just what these two are planning. Hank hands him some clothes and helps him change out of his hospital gown. He gradually starts feeling his legs again, and manages to put on the pair of trousers Hank gave him.

“Go where? I’m not going to leave you two defenceless,” Joel shoots back with a frown.

“You said that the sentinel can track mutants, didn’t you?” Hank says, turning to face Joel. “Right now, Charles and I are basically humans with my serum, it shouldn’t be able to detect us. You, however, will lead it straight to us.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Joel counters. “Your serum may inhibit your abilities, but you still have the X-gene in your DNA.”

“The serum does affect our DNA. Besides, we won’t know if we don’t test it out, will we?”

“What happens if you’re wrong and it comes after you?” Joel asks, worry seeping into his tone. “This sentinel is specifically targeting Charles.”

“Go back to the mansion,” Charles speaks up, startling Hank and Joel out of their argument, and at last getting them to pay attention to him. “Hank is right, you’re leading this machine straight to us at the moment. Get to Cerebro, and— I suppose you know how to use it?”

Joel looks stunned, as does Hank, but Charles can see understanding dawning on Joel as the latter nods. He stopped himself just in time, having almost asked Joel out loud to contact Erik, and to somehow break the latter free from his prison. Charles has entertained the idea over the years. He could do it, change the minds of everyone guarding Erik in the pentagon, and make them forget about Erik being their culprit. He just never had the incentive to do it, and has been content to drown himself in booze and use Hank’s serum. Charles does feel guilty at the mere thought of asking Joel to do it for him, but he sees no other choice. There is no rush to let Joel know what his plan is just yet, Charles thinks, not to mention that Hank would most certainly not approve and would try to convince Joel not to follow through. So Charles decides to reveal everything once Joel is in Cerebro.

“Only you can access Cerebro, Charles,” Hank points out. “Joel may be your son, but your iris pattern is still unique to you.”

“I’ll find a way in,” Joel says, and meets Charles’s gaze, allowing Charles to see how conflicted his son is. It’s obvious enough that Joel doesn’t want to leave him, but Charles agrees with Hank. If the serum can somehow throw the sentinel off their tracks, it’s worth finding out. Joel isn’t one to hide his feelings, Charles has noticed—and if he is, he’s not very good at it. In any case, Charles detects genuine concern when Joel adds; “I’ll contact you as soon as I get to Cerebro. Be careful.”

“We will be,” Hank replies. “We’re a couple of hours north from Westchester if you manage to get a car.”

“That should be no problem,” Joel says, and after a second of internal struggle, strides over to hug Charles with one arm. The gesture takes Charles aback, and he returns the hug awkwardly, warmth filling his heart nonetheless. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

On that note, Joel reluctantly leaves them alone in the hospital room. Hank turns to him with a tentative smile, trying to put up a strong front for Charles, even through his own evident fear. Charles often wonders how he managed to earn Hank’s loyalty, and can’t even fathom his life without his oldest friend. Hank is risking his own life, after all, following Charles through this ordeal. Charles does not want to die—not like this—and Hank deserves better than to have to drag a negative weight behind. This realization ignites something in Charles he thought was long gone: his will to survive.

“Are you ready to go?” Hank asks after he helps Charles get up to his feet and into his shoes.

“Yes,” Charles answers with determination.

\-------------

Joel borrows a car from a random passer-by he finds outside the hospital, and speeds all the way back to the mansion. He tries to not let his fear freeze him up completely, the constant worry over his father’s life nagging at him ever since he left the hospital, but it’s hard. He doesn’t cross paths with the sentinel, which is neither good nor bad. It does make it easy for him to get to the mansion, but had he come across the sentinel, Joel’s mind would be more at ease. He could have contained the sentinel while Charles and Hank flew far away.

Walking through the deserted mansion is an eerie experience, when Joel is used to students roaming the halls and the gardens at all times of the day, but it’s made worse by the damage the sentinel has caused on the premises. Joel doesn’t linger around the destruction he helped cause, and rushes to the underground level of the mansion, until he stands in front of the gate guarding Cerebro.

As expected, the eye scanner doesn’t recognize him, leaving Joel no choice but to pry the doors open with his telekinesis. He takes position in front of the metal doors, standing with his feet apart, and focuses. It takes him no more than a second to pull the doors apart enough for him to slip through, which surprises him. He never had to force his way into this room, but he thought it would be harder than this.

The room doesn’t look much different, Joel remarks as he flips the power switch on with a flick of his fingers on his way to the console. He puts on the helmet, breathing slow and deep, as he clears his mind to make contact with Charles. He hasn’t used Cerebro in a while, but he finds it’s as familiar as riding a bike. It doesn’t take long for him to find Charles, just past the Canadian border.

“I made it,” he says, projecting his consciousness to his father’s mind. He finds Charles and Hank in a Spartan room, the both of them looking unscathed, save for the previous bullet wound in his father’s shoulder. In Charles’s head, he has a limited awareness of his father’s surroundings, and including Hank in their conversation is beyond Joel’s abilities. He still can’t help asking, “How are you?”

“We’re fine, the sentinel didn’t find us,” Charles replies, then adds, “What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me, Pa,” Joel says, the surprise on Charles’s face making him realize his slip. He brushes it off, deciding that there’s no reason to censor himself now that Charles knows who he is. “We’ll need help to get rid of this sentinel.”

“We need Erik,” Charles says. “He’s going to need your help to find us.”

“Erik?”

“Erik Lehnsherr,” Charles specifies. “He…he can control metal.”

It dawns on Joel then, who that Erik is, thanks to Hank’s summary of the past few years in his father’s life.

“Magneto,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper as anger starts to overwhelm him. “Are you serious? You want that lunatic to help us? After what he’s done to you? No way. We can ask others.”

“He’s a very powerful mutant.”

“Oh I know. He’s also _insane_ ,” Joel argues, seeing the irritation on his father’s face growing as he keeps going, “How could you possibly want his help? For as long as I can remember, you and Magneto have been sworn enemies! _You_ have taught me to reject all of his ideals and methods. Besides, what makes you think he’ll even want to help you?”

“Because, Joel, Erik loves me!” Charles hisses, glaring at him now. “And I love him.”

The last words Charles speaks feel like a personal attack towards Joel, which leaves him speechless. His brain freezes, incapable of processing what his father’s just said to him. Hank definitely left that part out of his story yesterday—voluntarily or not, Joel doesn’t know, but it matters little to him at the moment.

“Please tell me this is a joke,” Joel implores. “Which, by the way, is in very poor taste, at the worst time possible.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not. This is probably hard for you to believe, but even in your future, I’m probably still in love with him,” Charles adds, his words worse than salt on Joel’s wounds.

“No,” is all Joel manages to say, hating the way his brain starts making sense of this piece of information, even if in a twisted way. Magneto’s sick obsession with his father, the very old rivalry between the two of them. It sheds light on things Joel could never understand, but wishes now were kept in the dark. “No, no, no.”

“Joel—”

“No, you can’t be in love with Magneto.”

“Why is it so hard for you to hear? Surely you must know that I prefer men, even if I had you,” Charles says. “Whoever your mother is, I’m sure I’ll love her, but—”

 “There is no mother! It’s just you and Dad!” Joel cuts Charles off, mostly out of spite. He remembers too late that his father doesn’t know anything about his secondary mutation yet. Charles looks stunned, mouth gaping, eyes fixed on Joel.

“Fuck, forget I said that,” Joel says, squeezing his eyes shut. Charles remains silent for the longest time, and Joel silently curses himself for screwing up so bad.

“What do you mean there’s no mother? Who is this dad?” Charles eventually asks.

“I meant nothing, I was just…I was just taken aback about you and Magneto—”

“ _Joel_ ,” Charles interrupts him with his most severe tone, the one Joel has heard a few times in his life and that’s always got his attention. “Tell me. Who is your mother?”

“I shouldn’t say.”

“I think I deserve to know, don’t I?”

“No, it could compromise the future,” Joel says, part of him still in denial over the fact that his venturing here in the past already has changed the future.

“I think it’s safe to assume you’ve already changed it, so you might as well tell me,” Charles counters, as though reading Joel’s thoughts. “Who is your mother?”

Joel shuts his eyes again, and takes a deep breath, regretting his decision to answer Charles’s question before he even speaks up.

“You are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, you guys, I am the worst writer ever. This chapter was left alone, 2/3 of the way written, for _months_ on my laptop. I am so sorry. In my defense, I did have a lot of things going on (I was abroad the whole month of September, and was working the last two weeks of July and August, with 2 short vacation trips in early August). And just writing the last third of it tonight took forever because I kept getting lazy and distracted with youtube and whatever. I sometimes think I might have minor ADD. But hey, at least I sat down and decided to finish this chapter tonight, right? Anyway, it's 3 a.m., I'm starving from watching food videos on youtube and looking at instagram food pictures, and these notes are getting really long, so I'll end the rant.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I apologize for being such an unreliable writer. Let me know what you think, I love reading your thoughts in the comments, which I appreciate more than anything in life, basically.
> 
> P.S. : a little heads up, in two weeks, I officially start my residency, and I probably won't have much time for writing, but I'll try to get a head start now that I still have free time.


	5. Old & New

“What—what did you say?” Charles stammers as he takes a step back from Joel.

“You heard me,” Joel says, feeling the turmoil bubbling up in his father’s mind and bleeding over to him. “Technically, you’re my…mother. I don’t know every detail about it; I’ve never wanted to know the specifics, frankly. I just know that you—you were actually pregnant with me.”

“That’s…That’s not possible.”

Joel lets out a sigh, expecting the worst, and walks over to his father’s side, resisting the urge to hug him.

“Really, Pa? After every mutation you’ve seen in your life, you think a man can’t get pregnant?”

“How would that even work? I can’t even imagine…”

“Do you want me to show you?” he offers. He’s only got glimpses of the pregnancy from his parents—how clueless and freaked out they were in the beginning, and how uncertainty turned into something happier, more…hopeful.

It probably isn’t the best suggestion he could’ve made, in retrospect. Joel watches as fear and panic fall over his father’s face, eyes lost and confused. It’s not a look he ever wants to see on his father ever again. Both his fathers have always been Joel’s rocks, unwavering and unbreakable, always there to give him answers and sound advice whenever he needed them. Especially when they’re together. Joel realizes then that his dad is exactly the person Charles needs right now. He’s just not sure forcing fate is the best idea—they have more pressing matters anyway.

“I’d rather you didn’t. This is a bit too much,” Charles says at last, which leaves Joel at a loss for words himself. He never imagined having this conversation with his father. This whole trip to the past feels like one surreal dream—a dream he’d love to wake up from. Silence falls between them, as Joel tries to find something to say to Charles.

“Look, Pa—”

“I mean, I’ve slept with so many men, how have I not…how have I not—I can’t even say it!” Charles says, freaking out in a way Joel is not used to. “And it’s not like I have periods every month!”

Joel cringes, not particularly fond of hearing about his father’s promiscuity or reproductive organs. He can feel how much distress his father is in, and it’s disorienting. Joel wants to get out of Charles’s head as soon as possible.

“I don’t have the answers to those questions, unfortunately. Also, need I remind you that I’m your _son_? This is a really disturbing conversation for me—”

“Right! As if this was a delightful little chat for me,” Charles counters. “Try having your unborn son coming from the future telling you that you can get pregnant and will give birth to him!”

Joel bites back a groan as he feels a headache coming his way. “Can we please move past this and focus on saving your life first before worrying about how you’ll get pregnant?”

“That’s the most sensible thing you’ve said so far.”

“Right, can you think of anyone that isn’t Magneto who could help us?” Joel asks, trying to steer his father away from the one man that could compromise Joel’s future. It’s a pill he doesn’t want to swallow, the thought of his father being in love with anyone but his dad, a thought he tries to put out of his mind altogether. Joel has no idea how his parents are supposed to get together at this point, seeing the mess that their current situation is—not to mention his father’s unresolved feelings for a madman.

“Azazel. Find Azazel,” Charles says, sending the image of a red mutant to Joel’s mind, showing him the mutant’s abilities.

“I know him,” Joel says, recognizing Kurt’s father. Having a teleporter on their team sure would come in handy, Joel agrees. That is, if he can manage to pin the mutant down long enough to talk to him—or to convince him, if it comes to that.

“Make no mistake, I’m not going to let him bring Magneto anywhere near you,” Joel says, having guessed his father’s intentions easily. He is in Charles’s head, after all.

“Erik is our best shot at destroying that Sentinel thing,” Charles argues, raising his voice again.

“I beg to differ,” Joel says, though he has no one else in mind who has Magneto’s calibre at the moment. “I’ll be back in a second.”

He pulls out of his father’s mind, cutting the argument short. A quick search lets Joel know that Magneto is imprisoned, in the Pentagon, of all places, which brings him a surge of satisfaction. Charles knew Azazel would be the quickest and easiest way to get Magneto out. Well, Joel will make sure Magneto stays exactly where he is and belongs.

He looks for Azazel next, ignoring the desire to find his dad, and finds the mutant unconscious, kept sedated in one of Bolivar Trask’s laboratories. He’s appalled when he finds all the other mutants kept prisoners, being experimented on. It only infuriates him to see such horror already happening at this point in time.

It’s easy for Joel to knock out the guards keeping an eye on Azazel; bringing the latter out of his sedated state, however, is another matter. Joel weaves his way through the mutant’s mind, surprised to find out all the shady things Azazel has done. He takes his time to work on Azazel’s mind, having no qualms over manipulating him in order to get his complete cooperation. Joel lays out a short list of orders in Azazel’s mind—free all the mutants from the lab and bring them to safety, then come get Joel to bring him to Charles and Hank. He burns the order to stay away from Magneto in Azazel’s mind.

Joel wakes Azazel up from his induced slumber once he’s satisfied with his work, and pulls out of Cerebro to wait for the teleporter, expecting the latter to come shortly. What he finds instead when he takes off the helmet and turns around, is a short and young brown-haired girl. Joel is unnerved by the way she’s eyeing him with her cold grey eyes, like a predator assessing its prey, as she leans against the doorframe, arms folded across her chest. Her hair is pulled up in a ponytail, and she’s dressed in dark clothes, her boots and leather jacket reminding Joel of the way he dresses himself. It’s disturbing, to say the least.

“Figured I’d find you here,” she says as she straightens up and starts walking towards Joel. It sets him on edge, to be faced with a stranger that seems to know him and gives off dangerous vibes.

“Who are you?” he asks, all senses on alert in case he needs to defend himself.

“I’m the one who’s going to clean up your mess, and keep you from fucking with my future even more than you already have.”

“Future?” Frowning, Joel tries to enter the girl’s mind, only to find himself blocked out. _Telepath_ , Joel thinks as he looks at her, eyes wide, and barely dodges the large needles she throws at him out of nowhere. He didn’t see this coming, another mutant from the future—a hostile one too.

“Yeah, and you don’t belong here,” she starts saying while she keeps throwing all kinds of sharp weapons at him. “So I’m going to make you disappear.”

Joel deflects as many of the freaking _shuriken_ as he can, throwing some of them back at his opponent when he can. He notices that the girl has a lot of the metal projectiles just hanging in the air all around her, and the ones he propels back at her just stop short above her, as though there was a magnetic field. She has complete control over them, Joel realizes. She sends him a smirk as she approaches fast, unsheathing an actual sword from her back. He tries to enter her mind again to freeze her, but only gets a mental blast in response. It unsettles Joel, to be facing a telepath _and_ a telekinetic like himself.

“That’s enough,” Joel says, stretching his arm out at the girl to push her back a few feet and immobilize her. He takes this opportunity to send all of her weapons towards the walls, leaving them planted there.

“You’re good,” the girl says, still grinning even in her frozen state. “But not good enough to stop me.”

Joel feels the walls around them vibrating with the sharp sound of the weapons dislodging from where he put them. He finds himself stuck to the floor when he tries to move, and glances down to see his ankles covered by the reshaped metal at his feet. Looking up at his opponent, Joel faces a shower of metal flying towards him, hissing as they pierce through the air at high speed, and it takes all of his focus to deflect them, losing his hold over his enemy in doing so.

The brunette runs towards him, and as if sensing his intention, the metal floor keeps climbing up around his legs. Joel struggles with the weapons that fly right back at him the second he deflects them away, a couple of them managing to slice him. Before he has time to put up a force field around himself, the girl is right in his face, her sharp sword piercing through his abdomen. Joel chokes from the pain, taken aback by the speed at which the girl got to him, and in his second of distraction, he forgets the flying knives that manage to cut through him.

“Cat got your tongue?” she says with a devilish grin on her face.

“I thought you’d put up a better fight than this,” she adds, twisting the blade inside him. Joel groans, as another knife lands between his ribs. He’s never had a collapsed lung before, and his chest burns as he tries to breathe in.

“Who…who the _fuck_ …are you?” Joel asks in between coughs, barely managing to gather enough focus through the pain to take out the small weapons from his body.

“I guess you at least deserve to know who bested and killed you, don’t you?” she muses, not noticing Joel’s wounds healing. She’s full of herself, Joel notes—and standing really close to him—so he uses it to his advantage and gets his claws deep into her side. He grins when he hears the girl cursing in pain and stepping back from him, eyes wide and furious as she looks at his bloody claws.

“You—”

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Joel says as he pulls the sword out of his guts with a hiss and throws it on the floor. “Sorry, but I don’t die that easy.”

“Oh, but you _will_ die,” she snarls, and picks her sword up with nothing more than a flick of her fingers from where she’s crouching a few feet away. Joel heaves a sigh of relief when Azazel pops out of thin air in front of him, _finally_ , and puts a hand on his shoulder.

In the blink of an eye, his surroundings change, the lethal girl disappearing from his sight and replaced with Hank and his father, in the dimly lit bunker room he saw earlier. Joel falls on his hands and knees, feeling dizzy and coughing up blood.

“Joel?!”

“Oh God, what happened?”

He rolls on his back, head still spinning, and lies on the cold floor to rest and recover, waiting for his wounds to heal. He can’t remember the last time he’s been injured this bad—people usually don’t get to him so easily. It makes him wonder just who that girl is, and why she was so hell-bent on killing him. He’s obviously changed the future—he knows that—but the damage he’s caused must be pretty serious for someone to travel back and try to eliminate him.

“Hank, he’s bleeding a lot, help him!”

“I’ll be fine,” he rasps, breathing heavily. “Just need a few minutes.”

“Azazel, take us back to the mansion!” Charles orders, his words the last ones Joel hears before passing out, too weak to protest and warn them of the danger that awaits them back home.

————————

Joel’s entire body feels heavy when he comes to, the way it does whenever it sustains too many injuries. He’s lying on a comfortable mattress, in a familiar room— _his_ room, he realizes as he looks out the window and recognizes the apple tree standing right outside. All the tokens that make his room his aren’t here, of course, but the bed is the same, and so is the old wooden armoire to his right.

“Your wounds have completely healed,” a voice startles him, and only now does Joel notice his father lurking in the corner of the room. “Any other man would have died from the wounds you had.”

“Well, I’m no ordinary man,” Joel says, sitting up on the bed and stretching his sore muscles. He pats the blood-stained bandages on his stomach, recognizing Hank’s neat work. He sneaks a peek underneath the gauze, finding smooth skin. Good as new. Charles walks over and sits on the bed as well, his gaze never leaving Joel, which unsettles him.

“How long have I been out?” Joel asks, worried about the time they’ve lost because of him. For all they know, the Sentinel might be close enough to show up any second. Well, at least they now have Azazel to get them far away while they figure out a plan to destroy the machine.

“Not long, a couple of hours. How are you feeling?” Charles asks with the gentle tone Joel’s familiar with. Taking a good look at his father, he finds Charles cleaned up and wearing a more proper attire, his long hair coiffed in a less unruly fashion.

“A little tired, but fine,” Joel replies as he slides out of bed, looking for some pants to put on. Two hours is a long time, and it makes Joel wonder just where that murderous mutant has gone. She couldn’t have gotten far when Azazel teleported back to the mansion. She may be hiding, Joel thinks with growing concern. He finds clean clothes on a chair, pressed and folded, and grabs them with hurry. “We can’t stay here, there’s this mutant who—”

“You mean me?”

Joel startles when he sees the girl he faced earlier come in his room, feeling vulnerable dressed only in his underwear. She’s favouring her right side, her leather jacket gone, hand holding her injured flank, Joel notes with satisfaction. Her wounds have been seen to, probably by Hank, too. He can’t help but wonder just what she’s done to them.

“Pa, get behind me,” Joel says as he puts himself between Charles and the brunette. His claws unsheathe from his hands, ready to attack at any moment as he puts a force field around his father and himself.

“Relax, big guy,” the girl says, rolling her eyes at him. “I’m not going to attack you.”

“She’s on our side, Joel,” Charles adds, putting a hand on Joel’s arm, which does little to reassure him. The girl’s mind is still closed off to him, leaving Joel no clue as to whom she really is.

“On our side? She tried to kill me!”

“But she won’t anymore,” Charles says, sending a glance at the girl as though to make sure. “Now that she knows who you are and why you’re here.”

“I don’t know, she seemed pretty keen on getting rid of me,” Joel argues, not comfortable with her standing so close. At least he can’t see any of her weapons anywhere near her. He puts on the pair of pants quickly, and is irritated to find the girl looking amused when he looks up.

“Quite the temper you got there, _Joel_ ,” she says, making his name sound like a joke. “Makes me wonder where you get that from.”

She gives him a knowing look, which Joel returns with a glare, her tone implying that she knows the answer to her question. She seems to know who he really is, Joel realizes. Whether she’s always known or just figured it out, Joel has no idea, but he hates being at a disadvantage.

“Sarah, could you give us a moment?” Charles asks with a sigh, and she—Sarah is her name, apparently—actually listens, giving Charles a nod before leaving the room.

“What the hell is going on? Who is she?” Joel demands once she’s gone, letting his claws retract and turning to his father as he puts on the shirt that was laid out for him.

“Sit down,” Charles asks as he takes his seat back on the bed, patting the mattress beside him for Joel to join him. His father lets out a long breath, hands scrubbing his face. Joel joins his father, the situation so déjà-vu it makes him think for a moment he’s back home, in his present. How many times have they had a heart-to-heart, right here in this room, sitting side by side on Joel’s bed? He can’t remember all the times he’s come to his father for guidance.

“I can’t believe this is my life,” Charles starts saying, turning to look Joel in the eye. “So, it seems that Sarah _also_ came from the future to save me, if she’s to be believed. I had no idea time travel was going to be so accessible.”

“I doubt she can be trusted, Pa.”

“She asked me to. Just like you did,” Charles points out. “I don’t know either of you, I have nothing but your word to go on, so give me a good reason to believe yours over hers.”

“Wait, what has she said to you?”

Charles remains silent, and it takes all of Joel’s willpower to refrain from fishing the information out of his father’s mind.

“Pa? What’d she say?”

“That I have no son in the future,” Charles answers at last, regret in his tone.

Joel freezes as he lets the words sink in. He has been worrying about what his actions might have caused since he arrived here, and it makes him wonder whether Sarah is actually telling the truth. Whether he’s definitely compromised his own existence. He can’t have, can he? If he had, he wouldn’t even be here, he reasons. She must be lying.

“I could show you some of my memories,” Joel suggests, deciding that Sarah’s lied to his father, for whatever reason—she has tried to kill him, after all. After everything he’s done, he might as well share some of his memories. He could just show glimpses of his childhood, to show Charles they really are related, nothing too risky. He’s afraid revealing who his dad is might just encourage Charles to avoid him, just out of spite.

“Are you forgetting I’m a telepath too? I know first hand how easy it is to change or fabricate memories.”

“Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know,” Charles answers, leaning back on his hands. “I have no idea what your endgame really is, coming back here in the past. I’m still not sure I believe you actually are from the future.”

Joel remains speechless, not knowing what to say. He understands Charles perfectly, he would be sceptical too if their roles were reversed. What more can he say to convince Charles though?

“I…I don’t know what to think anymore,” Charles adds, letting out a sigh. “Are you…are you really even my son?”

The question throws Joel off, and his mind goes blank for a second. It takes him a moment to think about what to say.

“What do you think?” he ends up asking, recalling something his dad once told him. “What does your gut tell you?”

“I’ve never listened to my gut, you know,” Charles snorts, smiling softly at him. “Why go with your gut when you can know whatever you want from anyone?”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have your telepathy right now.”

“I guess that’s true. As strange as it is, considering everything you’ve claimed, I do believe you,” Charles admits, which brings Joel not satisfaction, but relief. Hearing his father acknowledge him is a weight he didn’t realized he had lifted off his shoulders. “When I saw you earlier, all but dying, I was actually scared to lose you, which is mental. Who gets attached to their unborn child so fast?”

“Any parent, really,” Joel says, touched nonetheless to know Charles cares about him after all.

“I don’t even know you.”

“No, you do know me,” Joel counters, which earns him a sceptical look.

“You…you’ve once explained to me you could feel a strong bond between us,” Joel begins as he tries to remember what his father told him a long time ago. “Even when you were still carrying me. You said my telepathy manifested early, that you could actually sense my emotions before I was even born. That you’d never felt something so strong. Perhaps you can feel that bond even now.”

Charles surprises him with a hug before he even finishes speaking, and he lets himself lean into the comforting embrace.

“I really do hope you end up being my son.”

“Of course I will, Pa,” Joel says, though part of him worries there’s a chance he might not. A knock at the door breaks them out of their embrace, the door opening before they even give permission to come in.

“Charles, sorry to cut this short, but we do need to get going,” a man says, his face all hard lines and his gray eyes trained on Joel.

“Alright, we’ll be out in a second, Erik.”

“Erik?” Joel says, standing up to face the man, whose face he recognizes now, for having seen it in Hank’s mind when the latter caught him up on the last years’ events of his father’s life. He glances at his father, whose guilt is written all over his face.

“ _Believe it or not, I didn’t ask Azazel to bring Erik here_ ,” Charles tells him.

“ _Then who did?_ ”

“You must be Joel,” Erik addresses him, doing nothing to hide his contempt. He’s shortly joined by Sarah, who comes to stand by his side, her posture showing how comfortable she is, as though she belongs there with the man.

“ _She did_ ,” Charles replies, looking at Sarah, for whom Joel’s hatred keeps growing. She has to be one of Magneto’s future associates, he figures, someone Joel hasn’t met yet. They paint a dreadful picture, the both of them, two enemies standing together against him, old and new. He turns his attention to Magneto, the mutant he's faced countless times before, meeting the metal bender's cold stare with his own.

“Magneto.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm the worst writer, and I apologize for that, that's one of the reasons why I hate writing WIPs. That and I can't tell you how many times I've gone back and nitpicked at this chapter as I was about to click the post button. With this story, posting a chapter feels so final, I won't be able to go back and change something if I want to later on, because it's already been established. That's how TV writers must feel.
> 
> Anyhow, I am so sorry for the delay. Work really takes a lot of my time, and when I'm off, all I want to do is watch Netflix or read other people's fics, you know? I am determined to see this story through tough, I can guarantee you that. I did update, didn't I? 
> 
> I have to say that everything that happened in this chapter, I initially hadn't thought of when I started this story. I hope there are still some of you enjoying this, let me know what you think ! I always love reading your thoughts.


	6. Set in Stone

“Stay away from him,” Joel tells Magneto, putting himself in front of his father. He can smell Charles’s scent all over Magneto, which infuriates him, his claws itching to tear the man apart. It takes him a second to rein in his impulses, to recall his father’s teachings about violence. His parents have raised him to be a better man than Magneto is, he reminds himself.

“Joel, I don’t need you to protect me from them,” Charles assures him, though the confidence in his voice does little to convince Joel. Despite the recent revelations he’s learned about the complicated relationship between his father and Magneto, Joel doesn’t trust them, he _knows_ the metal bender is bad news.

“Now, why would I listen to you?” Magneto shoots back with a murderous tone, hands clenched into fists. Even this young, he is every bit the murderer Joel has always known him to be. He can’t for the life of him fathom a world where his father could have fallen for such a despicable character.

“Oh, right, because you’re supposed to be Charles’s _son_?” Magneto adds with a scoff, his smirk grating on Joel’s nerves. How did he find out? Joel wonders as he glances at his father.

“ _Sarah told him everything, she…read my mind, apparently_ ,” Charles explains when their eyes meet. This Charles reads him just as well as his father from his present, even though they’ve met barely a day ago, and he doesn’t even need his telepathy. Joel conveys his thoughts to Charles, which earns him a soft smile from the latter.

“It must be hard for you, to deal with the fact that Charles will find someone else, someone _better_ ,” Joel shoots back at Magneto, taking joy in the way his words set off the other man. It’s petty, he knows, but he can’t help it, even if he can feel the disapproval emanating from his father. “I bet it’s killing you, isn’t it?”

“You little—”

“Ignore him, Erik, we have more pressing matters,” Sarah says, grabbing Magneto’s arm to hold him back. She walks over to Charles, almost hesitantly, and puts her hand on his lower back.

“ _It’s alright, Joel, she won’t hurt me_ ,” Charles tells Joel just as he moves towards them to snatch his father away from her. He stops in his tracks, reluctant nonetheless to let Sarah so close to Charles.

“Come on, Azazel’s going to take you and Hank far away from here,” she says, with a gentle tone that Joel has a hard time associating with the killer he faced earlier. The way she looks at his father throws Joel off, leaving him confused and wondering just what her relationship with Charles is.

“Wait, what about you?” Charles asks, his gaze sweeping over them.

“We have a plan,” Magneto says as he steps closer, hand reaching out for Charles’s face. Joel stops the hand mid-air with a thought, just before Magneto can touch his father, and pushes him a couple of feet back from Charles.

“I told you to stay away from him,” Joel reminds Magneto, the latter glaring daggers at him, unable to move one inch from his current position. Sarah starts advancing towards him when they’re all startled by the deafening sound of explosions coming from outside, at which point Azazel barges in the room. Joel reaches out with his mind as far as he can on instinct. Hank is nowhere to be found—probably transported away already—and apart from all the mutants in his room, Joel finds another one right in the gardens of the school, eyes widening in terror when he realizes who it is, and what they’re running from.

“The robot is here. We’re going now, and you—” Azazel says, pointing his finger at Joel with a scowl. “Don’t you dare mess with my mind again, or I’ll drop you off from a hundred feet.”

Joel lets Azazel get away with that threat, not bothering to tell him that such a drop wouldn’t harm him at all. Joel simply nods at Azazel, who turns towards Charles to put his hand on the latter’s shoulder.

“Go with him, Charles, we’ll take care of that sentinel,” Magneto says, nodding his approval at Azazel, and in the blink of an eye, Charles is gone. Joel doesn’t wait for Magneto and his sidekick as he runs to the window, opening it and jumping through, heart hammering in his chest. He levitates all the way down to the school grounds, the conflicting smells of fresh grass and acrid ashes hitting his nostrils at once when he lands on his feet. The sun almost blinds him while he sprints towards the sentinel, the distance between them seeming infinite. Panic overwhelms him as he runs for what feels like an eternity—damn his father’s giant estate. When he gets to them, Joel finds the sentinel looming over its target lying on the ground.

“Run, Dad!” Joel screams, stretching his arm out to put up a force field and push the sentinel back from his father. A million questions run through his mind as he inspects Logan, who looks mostly unscathed, but bloodied nonetheless—hell, he can see burns still healing all over his father’s body. What is he doing here? Was the sentinel after him as well? It hits Joel then, the realization that eliminating Charles might not have been the sentinel’s sole objective. Stryker must be after _both_ his parents—after _him_.

“What the fuck is that thing? And did you just call me ‘Dad’?” his father asks as he gets up, pointing at the sentinel with his claws. Even under these dire circumstances, Joel feels immense relief and joy at seeing his Dad.

“I’ll explain later, you need to go,” Joel says, focusing on maintaining his hold over the sentinel as his father stands up beside him. “Don’t just stand here, go! You can’t do anything against that sentinel.”

Joel only gets a raised eyebrow from Logan, who looks at him with defiance. He almost laughs at his own foolish words. No stranger tells Wolverine what to do. He can see Magneto and Sarah approach from his peripheral vision, followed by an enormous amount of liquid metal floating in the air.

“I’ve been running from that robot for hours, I’m not going anywhere until I know what the fuck is going on,” Logan says as he watches the other two mutants coming, retracting his claws to cross his arms over his chest. Joel can sense the burning curiosity over his identity from his father, and swallows a groan as he turns his attention back to the sentinel.

“Fine, then stay behind me, it’s targeting you specifically,” he tells his Dad as he steps forward, and deflects the bullets shot at them, with some help from the two metal benders that join their side.

“I can’t sense metal on that thing at all,” Magneto says with a scowl, irritated. “Only traces of it in some…missiles.”

“I guess it finally ran out of bullets,” Joel says, a bit relieved to know there _are_ limits to this machine’s ammunition.

“It was designed to take out mutants, and we were always their biggest threat,” Sarah says before turning to Joel. The sentinel shoots said missiles at them, which Sarah and Magneto redirect back to the robot before Joel has time to tell them to stop. The sentinel is too close to them—to _him_ —and the impact of the explosions throws them all backwards.

“Fuck,” Joel groans; feeling like the back of his head is being split open. He’s lying on his back, his entire body sore and refusing to cooperate. He’s lost his mental grasp over the sentinel, and he needs to get back on his feet. Looking around him, he sees his Dad getting up as well.

“ _Are you alright, Dad?_ ” he asks, realizing a second later that he spoke directly in Logan’s mind, something that’s always come to him naturally. He takes deep breaths, waiting for his body to recover enough so that he can stand.

“ _Did you just—fuck, you’re a telepath?_ ” he hears Logan reply. “ _I’m_ fine _. And stop calling me ‘Dad’, bub.”_

“Hold it still!” he hears Sarah croak, her voice resonating in his head with the sound of police sirens. Great, now the cops are here too _._ The last thing they need is collateral damage. He doesn’t have time to argue with Logan, so he lets that last comment slide. Once he finally manages to stand, Joel feels dizzy enough to want to throw up, which does not bode well for what he needs to do. It doesn’t help that he hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday, back at the hospital, and even then he’d only gotten a few snacks. He’s used up a lot of energy, and it’s already taking a toll on his body.

“Sarah, you’re hurt,” Magneto says with concern in his voice. “Azazel should be back in the mansion, call him to come and get you to a hospital. I told you I could do this alone, you didn’t have to come.”

“I’m fine, _Vati_ ,” she replies.

Joel glances at Sarah, noticing a couple of burns on her right leg making her limp as she gets up. Magneto seems to be faring better than Joel or Sarah is, as he’s put up a wall of metal to shield them from the energy blasts the sentinel’s now firing. It takes Joel a few seconds to recover completely, and even when he does, he can barely focus enough to freeze the sentinel again.

“I got it!” he says, cursing when he sees a couple of helicopters hovering above, as well as police officers approaching on foot. The sentinel is testing Joel’s telekinetic limits enough as it is as it struggles against his hold, he can’t see how he could possibly alter the minds of several men at the same time.

“I’ll take care of them, you focus on the sentinel,” Sarah tells him, having thankfully taken note of the situation. She brings up her fingers to her temple, concentrating on rerouting all the police force away from them. Joel’s only ever seen his father do this, aside from himself, and the buried thought that started nagging at him when he first encountered Sarah comes back. He still has no definitive answer for Sarah’s identity. The uncertainty and the hypotheses he’s conjured are unsettling him, which is why he’s been dismissing them so far.

Meanwhile, Magneto melts the wall of metal down into liquid form again, and directs it towards the immobilized sentinel. The metal envelops the robot, covering its entire surface. It takes Joel a second to understand what they’re trying to accomplish, get the metal to seep through the joints and destroy the sentinel from inside. It’s clever, Joel admits, and in the many times they’ve faced these machines, he’s never seen this technique to take them out.

“The police are gone,” Sarah says, frowning as she looks between Magneto and the sentinel. “What’s wrong?”

“This thing is completely airtight, I can’t get in,” Magneto says through gritted teeth. The sentinel tries to blast through the metal with its energy rays, but to no avail. Joel can’t help but admire how the metal just reforms over the sentinel, like a living entity.

This sentinel may not be as deadly as its predecessors, but it certainly is resilient. It’s not made of metal, apparently, so then _what_ exactly, is it made of? Joel wonders. It has sustained multiple explosions, with no significant damage. Stryker most likely hadn’t foreseen so many of them would come to his fathers’ defence, and favoured durability over lethality.

“I can try to get in some cracks, but I doubt these will work,” Joel says, unsheathing and holding up the claws of his free arm. He feels all eyes on his claws—especially Logan’s, the latter no doubt starting to at least consider the fact they actually are father and son.

“ _We’ll talk about it later_ ,” he tells Logan, who nods in response.

“These should do the trick,” Logan says, showing his own claws—already in adamantium, Joel notes. If anyone has a chance at cracking that sentinel open, his Dad does. Magneto looks back and forth between them, eyes widening ever so slightly as he seems to make the connection between Joel and Logan. Joel has no access to Magneto’s mind, which is shielded by Sarah.

“I’ve got your back,” Joel says, preparing to block any energy blasts thrown at Logan. His father moves fast towards the contained sentinel, getting close to it with little trouble. Logan’s claws do pierce through the sentinel’s armour, offering the perfect opening for the metal to get through.

Everything goes fast from that point on, Logan runs back towards them while the entirety of the metal disappears through the holes recently made. The sentinel soon starts convulsing, its head popping out from the rest of its body.

“It’s going to explode!” Sarah shouts, moving her arms around to create a metal sphere around the sentinel as Joel pushes it as far away as possible before summoning his remaining energy to put up a force field around them.

The explosion is contained, thankfully, and when the metal sphere collapses, it reveals a pile of debris. Joel heaves a sigh of relief, releasing his mental hold and letting the tension leave his exhausted body, his legs giving out under him.

“Hey, you ok, bub?” his Dad says, catching him in his arms. Joel feels like he’s about to pass out, leaning heavily on Logan for support, finding comfort in the familiar cradle of his father’s arms.

“I just need a moment,” he replies, closing his eyes against the world spinning around him.

“Azazel, take Sarah to a hospital, _now_ ,” Joel hears Magneto say, and he opens his eyes to see the teleporter walking over to Sarah. Before Azazel can touch Sarah, he freezes, and so does everyone else, Joel notices. His own father is unmoving, Magneto’s scowling face frozen as well.

“What’s going on?” Sarah asks, the only other one who seems to be unaffected. She looks to Joel, confused, but he has no explanation either. It’s eerie, to say the least, seeing everything around them frozen in time. He detaches himself from Logan, making sure the latter doesn’t fall, and looks around to see a magic portal opening before them.

“Billy,” he whispers, seeing the warlock on the other side of the portal.

“It’s time to go, Joel,” Billy tells him.

“No, not now,” Joel protests, looking at his father, at Magneto. _Sarah_. She’s going to mess everything up, Joel is sure of that. She knows who he is, she will no doubt try to kill Logan, the same way she tried to kill him. “I can’t leave now.”

“You’ve done what you came here to do,” Billy returns, his voice more serious than Joel remembers ever hearing from the warlock.

“So have you, Sarah. I didn’t send you back so you could change the future, but to preserve it as it is.”

They whip around to see another portal, _another Billy_ , the two of them facing one another across Joel and Sarah. They look exactly the same—same age, same short dark hair, eyes glowing the same electric blue in their Demiurge state. Sarah looks as alarmed as Joel feels, and for a second their gazes meet, their minds completely open to each other. Joel enters her mind, at last, and absorbs every piece of information he can find about her, about her story, _her parents_. It’s more than Joel bargained for, and as he takes in the new revelations about Sarah’s identity, which alas confirm his suspicions all along, he feels like he’s already lost a battle that hasn’t even begun.

“Billy, that’s not what we agreed upon,” Sarah says once they both snap out of each other’s minds. “I’m not leaving.”

“Then you’ve clearly misunderstood me. I can’t let you meddle more than you already have. If I don’t bring you back now, the future as we know it will be compromised,” the other Billy tells her.

“Bill, what’s going on?” Joel asks Billy—well, his Billy, he guesses—confused with the situation. He has no idea why there are two of them, and what that means for his future. Is he still alive? He wouldn’t be here if he’d changed his future completely, would he?

“I’ll explain everything once we get back to our time, Joel,” Billy says, looking him straight in the eye, almost blinding Joel as he does so. Both warlocks look at each other, nodding in unison.

“Billy, _please_ , give me more time,” Sarah starts pleading, but to no avail. Billy moves his arms in a circular motion, blue light trailing behind his hands. Joel looks at the second Billy, who’s mirroring his other self, and when he turns back to his Billy, he’s facing a bright flash of light.

“No, wait—”

——————————————

Charles is the one who speaks first after a moment of stunned silence, once Joel is done showing them the memories of his venture into the past. He feels disconnected, and part of him is still adjusting to the fact that he’s not back there anymore, in the past, that he’s back in his present.

“What did you learn about this Sarah?” he asks Joel, who made sure to keep her identity from everyone. Before Joel has time to answer, his father turns to Billy. “Does she exist in our universe?”

“No, she doesn’t, and she never will,” Billy answers, to Joel’s relief, though he still feels uneasy having left things off the way they were back there.

“It doesn’t matter who she is, Charles,” Logan says, and Joel can sense his Dad’s discomfort, the latter having probably deduced who Sarah really is. Joel himself has a hard time processing the fact that she exists at all, even if it’s in another universe. It doesn’t feel right.

“You owe me some answers, Billy,” Joel says, finding it hard to let go of that other timeline—or whatever it is. He can’t help but feel he has a duty to fix things.

“Like I said earlier; the moment the sentinel was sent into the past, it created another timeline, parallel to ours,” Billy explains, letting out a sigh as he leans back into Teddy’s embrace, the latter’s arm wrapped around Billy’s shoulders. “The other Billy you saw, he was the one who sent Sarah back in the past, within their own timeline. You didn’t belong there.”

“And I don’t exist there at all, do I?” Joel says, letting the truth he’s been trying to deny all along out in the open. Billy shakes his head, confirming Joel’s fears.

“No, you don’t.”

“What the hell,” Scott mutters, stepping closer to Joel, his distress radiating from him in waves. Scott has always been open with his emotions—to Joel, at least—since his eyes are hidden behind his glasses. It’s easier for him to let Joel know what he feels through Joel’s empathic abilities.

“What? How did that even happen? We all saw it, I was there at the mansion—I mean, the other me was there,” Logan says, his tone rising. “I remember I wasn’t far at the time, I met Charles not long after that.”

“Magneto was set free in that timeline,” Joel says, pursing his lips. “I’m guessing the first thing he did when I was gone was to get rid of you to get back to Pa.”

“Isn’t there any way to change that? Surely things aren’t set in stone,” Scott says, walking towards Billy.

“No, there’s nothing we can do—”

“I don’t believe you,” Scott cuts Billy off, causing Joel to rein him back as he gets more agitated. “Earlier, you said you could see different outcomes in that universe. So you must’ve seen one where Joel does exist there.”

“Watch your tone, Scott,” Teddy warns him, putting himself in front of Billy, his imposing body looming over Scott. Even if Joel would’ve been less aggressive towards Billy, he’s glad that Scott brings up such a good point, and so he looks at Billy, interested in the latter’s response.

“I—”

“Lay off the kid, Scott,” Logan says in his authoritative voice, which usually only gets Scott even more aggravated—his Dad nevers learns, it seems.

“I can’t just decide who gets to exist or not, Scott,” Billy counters, raising his voice to match Scott’s tone. “I’ll remind you that just a few minutes ago, you didn’t give a damn to what happened in that other timeline so long as I brought Joel back here.”

“I didn’t think you would just let Joel be erased from that universe altogether!”

“It’s either him or Sarah, I doubt even Charles could choose between one child or the other!”

Billy’s eyes widen when he realizes what he’s just let slip out, and a moment of dead silence falls on them as the words sink in. Joel closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, waiting for his father’s reaction. It’s a truth he’d been dreading ever since he saw more and more of Sarah, of her abilities, her uncanny resemblance to Magneto. That glimpse into her mind confirmed his greatest fears.

“Oh my God,” Charles whispers, when he finally connects the dots in his mind. “Sarah’s my daughter?”

“No, Pa, she’s the other Charles Xavier’s daughter,” Joel corrects him.

“She’s Erik’s,” Charles adds, lost in his own thoughts. Logan puts a hand on Charles’s shoulder, shaking it lightly and whispering nothings in his hear.

“Her whole existence was determined when the sentinel entered that timeline, not yours, Joel. I’m sorry,” Billy says, the words cutting deep. Part of him knows it’s silly to care that much, seeing as he’s alive and well _here_.

“But that’s not true,” Joel argues, recalling what happened. “She went back in time too, _she_ is the one who had Magneto freed from his cell. If she hadn’t meddled, he never would’ve gotten out.”

“And if you hadn’t followed the sentinel, she wouldn’t have needed to,” Billy replies. “He would have found his way out anyway to protect the Professor. We can play the ‘what if’ game all night long, but messing with timelines is tricky.”

“But the other Logan and Charles, they’ve both seen me,” Joel says as the thought crosses his mind, recalling what Charles told him before they parted ways, and it breaks his heart.

_I really do hope you end up being my son._

“They’ll never see me again. I didn’t even have time to erase their memories of me,” Joel says, running a hand over his face as he lets out a shaky breath.

“I’m afraid so,” Billy confirms, which leaves everyone uneasy and speechless. “All we can do now is move on; forget about that other timeline and leave it alone.”

 _Easier said than done_ , Joel refrains from saying out loud. His father enters his mind and tries to comfort him, when Joel thinks he should be the one comforting his father. Out of the blue, Joel feels a gust of wind brushing the back of his neck, followed by a warm breath making him shiver.

“Hello, beautiful,” Joel hears the whisper, recognizing the voice—the _scent_ , the warm body pressed close to his back. Joel moves quickly to stop Scott from attacking the newcomer, knowing how fast Cyclops’s reflexes can be.

“ _It’s fine, Scott,_ _we’re not under attack_ ,” Joel assures Scott, having grabbed the latter’s right hand before it could reach his glasses. He turns around to face the speedster, arms crossed over his chest. “What are you doing here, Pietro?”

“What, I can’t pay a visit to my dear beloved?” Pietro says with a smirk, and cranes his neck to wave at the others behind Joel, completely disregarding Scott, who still stands by Joel’s side. “Hello, everyone! Why the long faces?”

“I’m not your beloved anything,” Joel says, letting out a groan, and puts some distance between Pietro and himself.

“Not yet,” Pietro replies, looking as unaffected as ever by Joel’s rebuffs. His first meeting with Pietro a few months back could not have come at a worse time in his life, the speedster’s instant infatuation with him conflicting with Joel’s complicated relationship with Scott. Joel heaves a tired sigh, wanting nothing more than to sleep for hours on end. He’s completely drained, and is fighting every second to remain awake. He should think about eating something too, even if it’s not his priority right now.

Pietro gets mixed greetings—from his parents’ polite but curious hellos, Scott’s grunt, to Teddy and Billy’s warm hugs.

“Hey, uncle Pietro,” Billy says, pulling away from Pietro. “What are you doing here?”

“Official Avengers business, I’m afraid,” Pietro answers with an exaggerated sigh, then turns his attention back to Joel, all theatricality drained from his face when their eyes meet. Pietro studies him intently, with a serious expression Joel rarely sees, which flusters him. Pietro walks over to Joel, reaching out with his hand to cup his face. Joel sees worry in Pietro’s light blue eyes as the latter’s thumb brushes the skin beneath his eye.

“You look like you haven’t slept in days,” Pietro says softly.

“It certainly feels like it,” Joel mutters, and his heart skips a beat, touched that Pietro—who hasn’t known him that long—has noticed.

Pietro looks him over, and adds, “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“I heal fast, remember?” Joel replies with a shake of his head, smiling despite himself.

His Dad clears his throat, interrupting the intimate moment Pietro’s pulled them into, for which Joel’s grateful. He’s never been a fan of public displays of affection.

“What do the Avengers want?” Scott asks Pietro, his patience wearing thin. Joel can sense Scott’s anger bubbling to the surface, and feels conflicted by the latter’s reaction. Joel cuts himself off from Scott’s emotions, not wanting to discover something he doesn’t want.

“I’ll tell you in a moment. I’ll bring Joel to his room first so he can rest,” Pietro replies, and Joel can’t refuse such a tempting offer, so he nods in agreement. He wants to know what brings Pietro here, of course, but Joel feels like he could pass out any second at this point. Pietro’s whole face lights up, and Joel admits then, perhaps because of his exhausted state, how handsome Pietro looks when he puts on a genuine smile rather than his usual mischievous grin. Joel can’t deny that Pietro’s attractive—he’s not blind—but so far, he’d never seen that side of Pietro, the one that’s hidden behind all the bravado and cockiness. It’s not helping the knot in his stomach.

“You don’t need to, I’ll take him,” Scott says as he tries to come in between them, which earns him a raised eyebrow from Pietro.

“I’m pretty sure I’m faster than you, Red,” Pietro retorts with a chuckle, and without any warning, he puts an arm under Joel’s knees, the other behind his back, and lifts him up in his arms.

“Whoa, hey,” Joel says, surprised by Pietro’s strength—he may not be as heavy as his Dad, but he is by no means light.

“I’ll wait for you in your office, Professor, it’s important,” Pietro tells Charles, and takes off right away, thankfully. Joel feels vulnerable—and embarrassed—being held like a helpless bride, and the less he’s seen like this, the better. In a second, Joel finds himself in his room, and he crashes on his bed like a dead weight. He could definitely use a hot bath too to get rid of all the dirt and grit he’s collected in the fight against the sentinel, but he’s too tired to move.

He opens his eyes when he feels something damp on his face, and finds Pietro sitting on his bed with a towel, dabbing away gently at his cheek.

“Thanks,” Joel mumbles, feeling instantly better with his face freshened up.

“You’re welcome,” Pietro says, finishing to clean Joel’s neck before he starts peeling off his jacket. “I promise I’m not going to try anything, just helping you get out of these dirty clothes.”

“You better not, I’d expect at least dinner before anything else happens between us,” Joel chuckles, but sits up and undresses himself before settling back down on his bed, all the while conscious of Pietro’s eyes roaming over his body.

“See? I knew you would come around and give in to my charm,” Pietro says with a radiant smile as he leans closer, hand running through Joel’s hair. “Do I at least get a thank-you kiss? I’ve been thinking about your lips forever.”

“Fine,” Joel concedes with an eye roll, smiling nevertheless. He puts an arm over his eyes, trying to hide the warm blush on his cheeks, and hopes Pietro can’t hear the strong beats his heart’s pounding against his chest at the moment.  He blames this moment of weakness on the exhaustion, finding it hard to resist Pietro's advances when the latter is being so sweet and sincere. He wasn’t supposed to consider anything with Pietro until he’d sorted his feelings out for Scott.

“Rest well, sleeping beauty, I’ll see you soon,” Pietro says before he drops a soft peck on Joel’s lips that sets a swarm of butterflies free in his chest. He feels Pietro’s weight lifting off from the bed, the click of his door closing being the last sound Joel hears before he succumbs to sleep, the feel of Pietro’s lips lingering in his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tun tun tun ! An update ! What do you know, I just needed a week off work to write a chapter. This went waay beyond expectations, and I'm actually really happy with how things are turning out. I hope you are too. I really fell in love with Pietro from AoU (even if the movie wasn't that great), so I wanted to bring him in this story. Also, I didn't mention this at the beginning because I didn't want to spoil you guys, but rereading chapter 2 might help (I know I needed to in order to write the second part of this chapter).
> 
> Many of you guessed who Sarah was, which really, I didn't make it that hard to guess, did I? As always, let me know what you think, I really love reading your comments, even if I don't reply to them.
> 
> Speaking of which, I know I haven't replied to _any_ of them, because I dropped the ball after the first chapters, and now it feels weird to reply to the first ones, so... I'm sorry ? But I really do read and appreciate them, know that they make my day, and keep me going.


	7. The Time Traveler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE ! This story is not dead, despite all evidence pointing to the contrary.  
> God, I can't believe it's almost been 2 years since I last updated. I had the biggest writer's block, I knew where I wanted to take this story, I just didn't know how. Besides, residency is kicking my ass, and it's only going to get harder in the months to come.  
> Anyways, my point is, I love this story too much to abandon it, so here is a new chapter, longer than previous ones to make up for the long wait.  
> I hope you enjoy this, let me know what you think !

Logan’s day is getting weirder by the second. It started early, in the middle of the night, with him being woken up and chased by a murderous machine all the way to a freaking _mansion_. He almost feels sorry for the hotel he stayed at, now in ruins, if only his life hadn’t been threatened. Things got increasingly weird when some guy claiming to be his son saved him from said machine. Now here he is, with his supposed son vanished, facing two other freaks like him. Logan cocks an eyebrow at the man that controls metal, who’s looking at him with murderous intent.

“What the fuck just happened?” he mutters to no one in particular, looking at the destruction around him—scorched earth, with bits of machinery scattered here and there among the metal.

“You should go,” the other mutant tells him, his fingers twitching at his sides. _Don’t need to tell me twice_ , Logan thinks, but doesn’t bother saying anything, and walks away. He’s had enough shit to deal with for the day, and all he wants right now is to clean up and go back to his own business.

He hears a small explosive sound behind him, prompting him to turn around and see the two mutants gone. _Freaks_ , he thinks as he shakes his head, then goes on his way.

 

————————————

 

Joel wakes with a start, the vision of his dad walking away from the mansion still vivid in his head. _What the hell?_ He tries to slow his breathing, leaning back on the headboard behind him as he presses his hands against his eyes to make the remnants of his dream go away. Was it a dream, though? Joel wonders, but refuses to believe things ended this way in the other universe; that his dad just walked away and never met Charles—that Magneto won that easily.

“Joel, are you all right?”

He finds his father watching him from his door and walking toward him, and all Joel can do is nod, knowing he can’t hide much from Charles. His father’s gaze is heavy with concern, so Joel chooses to look away, at the clock hung on the wall facing him, not knowing what day it is anymore.

“How long have I slept?”

“A day, more or less,” Charles answers as he sits beside him on the bed, offering him some water that Joel gladly accepts. He stretches his arms and neck after putting the glass away, still feeling a little sore. His healing can take a lot of time and energy, and Joel’s slept for days at a time in the past after sustaining severe injuries.

“What have I missed?” he asks, recalling Pietro’s visit to meet with his father—among other things.

“Not much,” his father lies, which means Joel’s been left out of a mission. Pietro must have asked for the X-Men to team up with the Avengers. He hates leaving the fight to others and feeling so useless but even he is not arrogant enough to deny the fact he wouldn’t have been much help in the state he was in earlier.

“Is it too late for me to lend a hand?”

“No,” Charles replies with a shake of his head, scooting further in the bed to sit beside him. “I was waiting for you to rest.”

“What’s this mission the mighty Avengers needed our help for?”

“An army of sentinels was unleashed all over the world, targeting every mutant alive,” his father replies, his answer sending a cold shiver down Joel’s spine. When are they ever going to be rid of these things? “Kurt and Billy were in charge of dispatching everyone quickly.”

“You could have woken me up, I should be out there fighting,” Joel says as he jumps out of bed, going to his personal bathroom for a quick shower. He can’t believe his father let him _sleep_ while everyone else is risking their lives out there, fighting mutant-killing machines.

“ _Don’t worry, Jean is with them in case anything goes wrong_ ,” his father assures him, his voice coming through clearer in thoughts now that Joel’s turned on the shower.

Jean. Of course. Joel and Jean are, after all, pretty much interchangeable, what with them sharing the same abilities. Joel trusts her most to take care of things in his place. She is, after all, smarter and less hot-headed than he is—even if it pains him to admit it. Having the Phoenix force with her actually makes her infinitely more powerful than Joel.

“ _You and I have a different mission_ ,” his father tells him while he fully wakes up under the hot water stream, having most likely sensed his frustration. “ _And I need you at the top of your game for it_.”

“ _It seems Stryker had two parts to his plan. Get rid of your father and me in the past so he could attack every mutant in this present, unchallenged._ ”

“ _If he had that many sentinels available here, why didn’t he send more to the past?_ ” Joel ponders as he cranks up the heat, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. He takes the opportunity to inspect his body, prodding at the places where he’s freshly healed up. Good as new, if a little sore still.

“ _He was never absolutely sure his time machine would work, and in a sense, it didn’t—not in the way he planned,_ ” Charles answers, which doesn’t help the fear that simmers in Joel’s chest.

Joel’s in and out of the shower in five minutes and dressed in even less than that, ready for action. His father has other ideas, however, as he leads Joel down to the kitchen, insisting he eats something. He groans at this father's suggestion but knows better than to argue. They walk through the corridors of the mansion in silence, greeting the younger students they encounter along the way.

“What type of Sentinel is it, this time?” Joel asks once they step in the empty kitchen, and proceeds to rummage through the cupboards for something quick to eat.

“From what we've gathered, same as the one you faced in the past,” his father replies as he hands him a glass of water and a plate with a mouth-watering sandwich, Joel admits then how famished he is, and is grateful for his father always anticipating his needs. His father sits down at the kitchen counter where he retrieves his cup of tea—probably cold now, Joel figures. “Not the kind that adapts to our mutations, thankfully, but still pretty resilient.”

Joel nods, biting into the sandwich his father had prepared for him, as he stares out the kitchen window. The day’s first rays of sunshine are coming through and Joel can hear the younger mutants’ laughter from outside. Part of him is relieved, knowing that these Sentinels are manageable. The last mutant ones were the most difficult to destroy, and if it weren’t for Jean’s powers, they most likely would have been wiped out.

“Is Dad out there with the rest of them?”

“He is. Pietro is with him.”

“What are _we_ going to do, then?” Joel asks, ignoring the memory of Pietro’s lips against his that comes to his mind at the mention of the speedster’s name, hoping his father doesn’t see it.

“Infiltrate Stryker’s HQ, and stop the sentinels from within,” Charles answers. “I’ve tried to do it from Cerebro, but he’s taken precautions against me. I could’ve gone alone with Kitty—”

“You’re better off with me as protection,” Joel finishes for his father, who nods. Kitty is their most computer-savvy member, and she can take care of herself just fine, but having Joel along will get the mission going much smoother.

“She’s with miss Romanoff and Jubilee at the moment, we’ll head down to Cerebro to contact Kurt and Billy,” Charles says, to which Joel nods.

“Let’s go, then.”

 

————————————————

 

“I hate these things,” Logan mutters as he uses both hands to impale one of the sentinels Pietro throws at him with full speed. He discards the heavy machine aside, rolling to the side to dodge a missile sent his way from another sentinel.

“Aren’t you having fun, old man?” Pietro says as he stops next to him for a second, before disappearing again in a blur. They’ve been at it for what feels like hours now, and Logan has long since passed the point of fun. He’s just plain pissed now and wants this to end. He watches as Pietro punches the last one of the machines that were here, in Alger, terrorizing the locals. It’s such a nice day here, compared to the cloudy one they had back home. 

He heaves a sigh of relief, longing to get back to the mansion, to Charles, to Joel. He hasn’t been able to stop thinking about his family, worried that while he’s out here fighting, Stryker’s attacking them. He knows he shouldn’t worry, his husband would let him know if they were under attack. Years and years of nagging Charles to tell him when something’s wrong—instead of keeping everything to himself to spare Logan any worry—have paid off.

“I just want to go home and have a nice cold one,” he replies, taking a look around him. Carcasses of robots are lying everywhere, while civilians are coming out of their hiding spots. The local mutants who helped them fight come to thank them even if he and Speedy haven’t done nearly as much as they have. They’re offered all kinds of gifts, but Logan only accepts a fresh beer bottle.

“Let’s go, old man, you can drink later,” Pietro tells him with a pat on his back.

“Quit callin’ me that,” Logan grunts and bites into a protein bar Charles made sure he took with him.

“Why? Soon enough, you and I are going to be family,” Pietro says, smirking as he takes the bar Logan offers him.

“Oh yeah? How do you figure?” He asks, genuinely curious, and a bit amused by Pietro’s cockiness. He finishes his protein bar in three bites and washes it down with his beer next. It’s one of the most satisfying feelings in the world, drinking a nice cold beer after a good fight.

“Joel and I are destined to be married,” Pietro answers with a bright smile and a shrug. Logan almost spits his beer at that, at the irony of it all, and shakes his head instead. Figures his own son would be caught in a love triangle, just like his parents were before him. He’s only vaguely followed Joel’s love life, having witnessed his son and Scott dance around each other for years—until Cyclops recently chose to be with Jean.

He’s offered Joel his support, the best way he could, but ultimately, Charles was always the best at talking about this sort of thing. Logan inspects Pietro, trying to picture the young man as a potential partner to his son.

“I only got one thing to tell you, bub,” Logan says, looking Pietro in the eye with a smirk. “Good luck trying to convince my son of that.”

“I don't need luck, just my charms--and time!” Pietro replies. “Good thing I don't waste any, right?”

That pulls another bark of laughter from Logan, startled by the young man's wit. He might just be a great fit for Joel, after all, Logan muses. Pietro certainly would bring his son out of his serious shell, unlike Cyclops. If there’s one thing Logan is sure of, he’s better off not meddling—he’d rather leave that to his husband.

“Wolverine and Quicksilver ready for extraction,” he says into their comm channel.

“ _Making the portal for you right now_ , _Wolverine_ ,” Billy answers, Kurt saying he’s already busy.

“Let’s go, bub,” Logan tells Pietro, the latter speeding through the portal before Logan can blink.

 

——————————————

 

Nightcrawler is the one in charge of transporting Kitty, Joel, and Charles, leaving them at the back of Stryker’s supposed headquarters. Kitty has managed to hack into the enemy’s security system back from the mansion, so they walk through the facility uncaring of the several surveillance cameras.

Charles takes care of the guards, making sure they remain invisible to all security agents Stryker has hired. The ones they encounter are thankfully unprotected against telepathy. Still, Joel is on edge, his heart pumping fast as he waits anxiously for a fight, their mission so far looks too easy to be true. His father seldom goes out on the field, not only because he can help from the safety of the school, but also because he has no particular desire to go out where the fight is.

“ _I have a bad feeling about this mission, Pa_ ,” Joel says, making sure Kitty doesn’t get that. He loves her like a little sister and doesn’t want to worry her, let alone distract her from their mission. Their plan is to find the operating room, and hopefully a way to disable the sentinels. They actually don’t know how Stryker controls them, whether these sentinels are controlled remotely or simply built as independent units with the same program.

“ _Any luck with the guards?_ ” Joel prods his father’s mind, hoping they can get this over with as soon as possible.

“ _None so far, Stryker’s careful, he hasn’t told much to the guards we’ve seen_ ,” Charles replies, so they keep moving.

After phasing through a dozen rooms, they find one with a computer, and Kitty goes to it to do her thing.

“Cover me, Professor, I’ll try to be fast,” Kitty says as she sits at the desk. Joel goes to the door, expanding his mind to assess how many guards are in the vicinity. Only three armed men are around, and his father directs them away easily. Joel leans against the wall and allows himself a moment of respite to breathe while Kitty works.

“ _We’re going to be fine, son_ ,” Charles says, his calm voice resonating in Joel’s head as he holds his shoulder.

“ _I hope so_ ,” Joel replies, squeezing his father’s hand before walking over to Kitty to check on her.

“ _You doing ok?_ ” Joel asks her, a habit he has a hard time quitting, no matter how experienced Kitty has gotten over the years on the field. He still remembers her first mission like it was yesterday, he’d insisted on going with her to make sure she’d come back alive, and she’d been so pissed at him for coddling her. His fathers had approved, and Logan had almost come as well, but Kitty stood her ground and only allowed Joel’s presence.

“ _I’m fine_ ,” Kitty answers, his question earning him an eye roll.

“ _Kitty_ ,” Joel calls for her attention. “ _If things go—_ ”

“ _I grab the professor and get the hell out of here to call for help_ ,” she finishes, giving him a pointed look. “ _You don’t need to remind me every single time, Jo_.”

“ _How else do I get this drilled so well in your thick skull otherwise_?” Joel tries to say with a teasing tone, but it comes out neutral at best. He’s ready to crawl out of his skin, itching for a fight. Kitty doesn’t bother responding, just scoffs at him and shakes her head. His father is still standing by the door, focused on his task.

Joel’s relieved he doesn’t have to use his telepathy here, switching back and forth between his powers is straining. Besides, his father is so much more powerful than him in that department.

“Professor, Jo, come take a look at this,” Kitty whispers, forgetting their telepathic link. Charles joins him by Kitty’s side, looking at a surveillance cam feed.

“ _That’s Stryker’s time machine_ ,” Joel says, wide-eyed as he stares at the round portal sitting in the middle of a large storage room, surrounded by computers and engineers. What he sees next sends a cold shiver down his spine. Armed soldiers go through the portal, one by one, probably unaware they’re going on a one-way trip. Joel doesn’t want to think they are aware Stryker has no way to bring them back to this present—to this _universe_.

“ _A time machine?_ ” Kitty questions, confusion written on her face as she switches back to speaking in her head. “ _For real?_ ”

“ _Fuck_ ,” Joel mutters, turning his back to the screen, unable to stop the tremor that’s claiming his hands.

“ _Son_ —”

“ _What do we do? Should we go after them_?” Joel asks, looking at Kitty and his father, hoping for an answer.

“ _Anything they do won’t affect our universe, we know that now_ ,” Charles says, keeping his cool as usual.

“ _We don’t know that for sure, do we?_ ” Joel says.

“ _Regardless_ , _we came here to take care of the sentinels that are wreaking havoc in our_ present,” his father insists, having guessed what Joel wants to do.

“ _I already did_ ,” Kitty pipes up, getting both Joel and his father’s attention. “ _It turns out these sentinels are all linked through one central server. I slipped a virus in, disarmed them all, all we need to do is destroy them now._ ”

Joel is speechless, mostly because he did not expect their mission to be this easy and over so soon, but also because he doesn’t know what to say.

“ _Then let’s go back to the school_ ,” Charles says, offering his hand to Kitty, who takes it and stands up. Joel watches his father and Kitty walk towards the wall, ready to phase through but waiting for him. Kitty extends her hand to him, but Joel doesn’t budge, stunned.

“ _I…I—What,_ that’s it _?_ ” he says, having a hard time believing it’s actually over. He’s been completely useless.

“ _Yes, mission accomplished, son._ ”

“ _Why did we come here at all, if all Kitty needed was access to a computer?_ ”

“ _I needed access to their local network_ ,” Kitty explains, looking sympathetic. “ _Jo, you know you were our security in case anything went wrong, right?_ ”

“ _Fine, we’re done with the sentinels, but you both saw those goons going through the portal, we can’t just pretend nothing’s going on! They’ve already tried to take you and Dad out once, and they’re obviously not going to stop trying._ ”

His father’s disapproving look is almost enough to deter Joel.

“ _What if they’ve made modifications to their time machine and this time it takes them to our timeline’s past, instead of creating another_?” Joel asks, uncomfortable with the idea. “ _I can’t take that chance._ ”

He looks at Kitty, hoping he can convince her to help him, knowing his father too well not to hope for his support on this.

“ _Joel, I can’t in good conscience let you go through that portal again_.”

“ _Pa_ —”

“ _I’m putting my foot down, son, you’re coming home with us,_ ” his father says, taking Joel’s hand in a tight grip.

“ _I’m doing this to save you, even if it’s in another universe, Dad would agree with me_ — _hell, he’d race me for that portal if he were here_ ,” Joel counters as he pulls his hand back, feeling like a little kid again, not getting what he wants from his parents.

“ _Professor, Jo’s right_ ,” Kitty intervenes, clearly uncomfortable with the tension between Joel and his father. “ _I’m not sure I fully understand all that multiverse stuff, but if Stryker’s actually trying to kill you in the past? I say saving you is worth the trip._ ”

Joel’s so relieved he could kiss Kitty’s perfect and adorable face all over. He chances a glance at his father, hoping if not for his approval, then at least for his permission. He doesn't need it, but he’d feel infinitely better if he left on good terms with his father.

“ _Fine, but we’ll take you to the machine_ ,” Charles says, at last, not looking too happy about this. Joel sends his father a smile before he turns to Kitty.

“ _Can you set the machine up from here? Can you find out when they went?_ ” Joel asks her moving aside for her to take her seat back at the computer.

“ _Yeah, I think so_ ,” Kitty replies, clapping away on the keyboard. “ _They went to February 5th, 1973. Do you want to keep the same date?_ ”

“ _Send me back a day before their arrival_ ,” Joel asks, nervous now that he’s about to travel back in time again. His first trip was set to January 25th, so this time he’d be arriving about a week after he left the other timeline. Part of him hopes he’ll be going back there, but if Billy’s right, he will most likely be in another timeline where no sentinel ever came from the future. He’ll be a stranger again.

“ _Done, are you ready to go?_ ”

“ _More than ever._ ”

 

——————————————

 

The portal transports Logan to the main hall of the school, where Scott, Jean, and Kurt appear mere seconds after he and Pietro do.

“Nightcrawler, Wiccan? Shadowcat here, we’re ready for extraction,” Kitty’s voice comes through in Logan’s earpiece, and just like that, Kurt disappears as fast as he came, leaving Logan with two young men glaring at each other. He wonders how Jean puts up with Scott, really. Logan feels for her, it must not be easy to know your boyfriend’s conflicted feelings for someone else—he knows better than anyone how that feels, and is so happy that it’s all behind him now.

“I’m going to go check on Joel,” Pietro announces, silently asking Logan for permission through a pleading look. Logan scoffs but grins at the kid nonetheless. Permission granted.

“What makes you think you have the right to—” Scott starts, closing the distance between himself and Quicksilver with a snarl.

“He’s not here,” Jean says with a confused look, effectively calming things down between Pietro and Scott.

“What?”

Kurt announces his arrival with his signature exploding sound, bringing Shadowcat back—and Charles, much to Logan’s surprise.

“Where did you two go off to? Where’s Joel?” he asks his husband, beckoning to the latter who doesn’t waste time coming over to him. Charles startles him with a tight hug, right in front of everyone, something he rarely does. Logan wraps his arms around his husband, stroking his back.

“ _Hey, everything ok?_ ” he asks Charles softly, keeping the conversation between them.

“ _Forgive me, Logan,_ ” Charles says.

“ _It might help if I knew what to forgive,_ ” he retorts, pulling away to look Charles in the eye. His husband turns to the others, who have been waiting for an answer. Scott’s foot is tapping impatiently, while Pietro’s crossed arms do nothing to hide his fidgeting.

“Are you all right, Professor?” Jean asks, concerned as always. “And you, Kitty?”

“We’re fine, Jean,” Kitty answers.

“Let’s go to the briefing room,” Charles says, sticking to Logan’s side, arm wrapped around his waist. They walk together, side by side, a few feet behind the others.

“ _Are you going to tell me what’s going on, sweetheart?_ ” Logan prods, curiosity getting the best of him. If their son isn’t here, then where the hell is he?

“ _We’re almost there, you’ll know soon enough,_ ” is Charles’s reply, his face letting through some of his stress. Logan hates seeing his husband worried like this, it looks like bad news. When they get to the large briefing room, they find the rest of the x-men and avengers who were out fighting the sentinels already gathered inside. Charles and Logan sit at the head of the long table, waiting for everyone to take a seat.

“Kitty’s successfully disarmed all the sentinels,” Charles says once he’s got everyone’s attention. “We went to Stryker’s headquarters for that.”

“So that was you,” Captain America says. “You made them all turn off?”

“Yes, Kitty did,” Charles confirms. “She was able to introduce a virus into their systems, effectively shutting down every sentinel they had. As a precaution, destroying the sentinels that are still intact is our next mission, before they figure out how to get them back online.”

“One step ahead of you, Chuck,” Iron Man says. “Did you really think we’d just go on our way and leave these robots in perfect condition once they were offline?”

“Great, that’ll save us time,” Charles says as he heaves a sigh. “They have about 50 units left in storage. Kitty has saved their location.”

“We can do that easily,” Scott says. “That doesn’t tell us where Joel is.”

“When we were there, we found out Stryker still planned on using his time machine.”

“A time machine?” Dr. Banner and Iron Man ask in unison, looking at each other with excitement.

Logan freezes while his pulse speeds up, part of him acknowledging Charles squeezing his hand under the table. He thought that time traveling nightmare was over, but apparently not. He now knows where their son is, and Logan’s heart sinks.

“We saw him send his soldiers with it,” Kitty adds, eliciting more reactions from the various persons in the room, and Logan doesn’t even bother trying to listen to anyone. They’re all talking over each other anyway.

“He went back again, didn’t he?” Logan asks Charles aloud, his question silencing everyone. He looks at his husband, hoping in vain Charles will say no, but the latter nods. Logan can’t even blame Charles, knowing their son, there was nothing to be done to change Joel’s mind. He only hopes they’ll be as lucky this time around, that Billy will be able to bring him back again.

“Who went back where?” Captain America asks, confused.

“Please tell me that’s a joke, Professor,” Scott demands, standing up from his chair.

“Oh my God,” Pietro mutters, putting his face in his hands as Wanda pats his back.

“I wish it was, Scott,” Charles says, turning to look at the Avengers next. “It’s a long story, I’ll bring you up to speed.”

Charles’s telepathy is a Godsend, Logan thinks as his husband sends his memories of yesterday’s events to everyone who wasn’t aware of Joel’s shenanigans in another universe.

“I have to go with him, can you take make that happen, Shadowcat?” Pietro inquires as he stands up as well.

“This is madness, brother,” Wanda warns her twin, putting a hand on his arm to bring him back down on his chair. “Time travel is not to be taken lightly.”

“How did Stryker even manage to build a time machine?” Iron Man says, sounding almost offended.

“We need to retrieve that machine,” Dr. Banner adds.

“I don’t care what you do, Joel’s alone in the past again, I need to be by his side,” Pietro tells them.

“I’ll go,” Scott says, clearly challenging Pietro. Logan can’t believe how foolish and childish those two are being, making a spectacle of their rivalry right in front of so many people. Once again, he looks at Jean, trying to gauge her reaction. She seems to be taking this well enough, all things considered. She is strong, Logan is well aware, but even strong people can be taken down when it comes to matters of the heart. He’s witnessed it first hand. It still doesn’t excuse Pietro and Scott’s poor behavior, and their persisting bickering over who should travel back in time with Joel grates on Logan’s nerves.

“Enough!” Logan roars, at last, standing up as well and going as far as punching the wooden table. “Nobody here is time traveling. My son is stupid enough to do it not once, but _twice_ , and he obviously doesn’t care about the consequences.”

Logan grits his teeth and takes a deep breath to calm down, letting his husband work his magic to appease him. “He’s not an example to follow, we’re better off not tempting fate. We’re not sending more of us through that damn time machine.”

That seems to calm everyone down, much to Logan’s satisfaction. He watches as Pietro and Scott sit back down, looking rightfully chastised.

“Billy, do you think you’ll be able to bring Joel back again?” Charles inquires with a softer tone than Logan ever could muster, which is why Logan leaves the delicate matters to his husband.

“Probably not anytime soon, but I think I can,” Billy answers hesitantly when everyone glances his way. “The last time I brought Joel back has drained a lot of my energy.”

“Take all the time you need, kid,” Logan says, watching fondly as Wanda hugs her son. It’s a lot of pressure to put on anyone, let alone someone as young as Billy. They move on from that, the Avengers taking over the next part of the meeting to talk about the damage caused by the sentinels and the reconstruction efforts that will be required all over the world. They also discuss the details of the next mission to take out the remaining sentinels. Logan half listens through the rest of the meeting, too focused on Charles, who, despite the pain of not knowing how Joel’s doing, remains stoic and fully operational as a leader—unlike Logan.

When at last, Charles adjourns the meeting; Logan sags back in his chair and releases a long breath. Charles tugs at Logan’s hand as he leads them to their bedroom and Logan is all too happy to oblige.

“That meeting was a nightmare,” Logan says once they’re alone, door closed behind him. He cups Charles’s face, bringing their lips together in a tender kiss. “Let’s agree to never collaborate with the Avengers again, ok?”

“I’m not against the idea, you know that,” Charles replies with a soft smile. “But you also know they can be quite helpful.”

“Alas,” Logan concedes, heaving a sigh. Silence falls between them for a while, each basking in the comfort of the other’s embrace. Logan takes a deep breath, relaxing as he takes in Charles’s familiar scent. They always make sure to enjoy every moment alone they’re given.

“He’s going to be alright, Charles,” Logan says eventually, opening his eyes to meet his husband’s. “He’s a fighter.”

“I know,” Charles says, leaning his forehead against Logan’s. “Looks like he’s a time traveler now, too.”

“Fuck me,” Logan groans, hands clenching around Charles’s trim waist. He still has a hard time believing their son is actually out there somewhere in the multiverse, in the past. What bothers him the most with this time traveling business is that it’s made him realize just how easily he could’ve missed Charles in his life. How easily Charles could’ve gone to Magneto. It’s been bugging him ever since Joel shared his memories with them all. He remembers all too well how fragile his relationship with Charles was in the beginning when Magneto had finally broken out of his prison and sought Charles out.

“That can be arranged,” Charles says teasingly, finger trailing a path down Logan’s abdomen until it reaches his waistband. Logan claims Charles’s mouth again, this time rougher than earlier, carrying his husband to bed. This is definitely what he needs, Logan thinks, some good lovemaking to remind himself that Charles is his only.

“I love you, so much,” Logan rasps between kisses, holding onto Charles tight. He’s caught off guard when Charles rolls them over and straddles Logan, his piercing blue eyes boring into his.

“I love you too,” Charles replies, hands cupping Logan’s face as he leans down for another kiss. He moves his hand underneath Charles’s shirt, appreciating the toned body his husband has sculpted over the years with him. Charles makes the sweetest sounds when they kiss, Logan knows them all by heart, craves them every day. There’s no place in the world he’d rather be.


End file.
